Nottingham Forest were hard done by but fanning flames of paranoia helps no one

It would be far too easy to criticise Nottingham Forest in the wake of their latest self-pitying tirade at the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, which is convenient because that is exactly what Football Daily intends to do. Following their defeat against Everton, a game in which Forest were denied three penalties – one stone-waller and two 50-50 shouts on the tried and trusted Seen-‘Em-Given-O-Meter – the serial whingers from the City Ground published a tweet in which they criticised all three decisions, suggested the PGMOL and the game’s Luton-supporting video assistant referee Stuart Attwell were corrupted and harked back to assorted other decisions they feel have gone against them before pompously signing off by announcing that “NFFC will now consider its options”. And on Monday the club asked the PGMOL to release audio recordings between officials to ensure “the integrity of our sport is upheld”.

Quite apart from the fact that a win for Everton didn’t really suit Luton and that the only option Forest can reasonably expect to consider is whether to pay the whacking great fine they’re inevitably be going to landed with by cash or card, Football Daily can’t help but feel the club’s paranoid hierarchy might be better served pondering the fact that the only reason they’re actually in the Premier League is because Huddersfield were denied two clear penalties in the playoff final won by Forest at Wembley the season before last. Weirdly, given their public and increasingly tedious insistence on the laws of the game in their matches being rigidly imposed, the Forest hierarchy and their social media propagandists were strangely quiet when it came to criticising those particular officiating howlers on the day they surfed back into the top flight on a tidal wave of goodwill.

Having been called upon by Gary Neville to resign from his weird position as refereeing consultant at the City Ground in order to distance himself from the conspiracy theories of tinfoil hat-wearing employers who had complained about the appointment of Attwell before, as well as after, their defeat, former referee Mark “Clatts” Clattenburg elected instead to double down on the club’s stance in Monday’s Daily Mail. “Certainly, I would not have risked this situation if I were the head of the referees and all of this could have been avoided had the PGMOL simply made smarter appointments,” blathered Clattenburg in a column, where he made no mention of himself being on the Forest payroll and was therefore taking a completely one-eyed view of proceedings but had the clanging brass balls to suggest that Attwell’s decisions, or lack of them, might have been rooted in unconscious bias.

While Forest have every right to feel hard done by when it comes to the application of the omnishambles that is VAR, their persecution complex, propensity for writing angry letters and constant post-match complaining has won them few friends. What it has done, however, is fuel the flames of paranoia among the more gullible of their supporters in a state of affairs that helps deflect attention from the club’s own rule-breaking and myriad shortcomings when it comes to winning top-flight matches through the usual means of defending stoutly while scoring goals. The main protagonist in all three of Sunday’s “extremely poor decisions”, Ashley Young, must have left Goodison Park unable to believe his luck. Today on Instachat, in a post accompanied by two winky-face emojis, the Everton defender announced he was listening to an “Old Skool tune” by Justin Timberlake. The track in question? Cry Me A River. Touché.

Join Taha Hashim at 7.45pm BST for Milan derby updates as Inter wrap up a 20th title with a 3-1 victory over their housemates, who are the home team at San Siro this evening.

“They’ve put themselves right up there in the history of the football club. People will talk about this game for a long time. We were 20 seconds from going to an FA Cup final then 30 seconds later we’re in a penalty shootout. Had [Haji Wright] cut his toenail, we wouldn’t be talking about penalties” – Mark Robins deserves a pat on the back for an incredibly calm reaction after he and his Coventry players had their hearts shattered when VAR denied them from completing one of [one of?! – Football Daily Hype Ed] the greatest comebacks in FA Cup history against Manchester United.

I got curious about the footnote which got left in when you pasted some text about Swiss-style tournaments from Wikipedia (Friday’s Football Daily). It points to the URL of a chess website, but when clicked redirects to a site about handicrafts. Having done what Football Daily has taught me and looked at an article on Wikipedia, it seems that through a series of mergers and acquisitions, what remains of that venerable, old chess website lives on as a series of pages deep within the bowels of that handicrafts site. I’ll leave it to my betters to determine if that functions as a metaphor for what has happened to venerable, old cup competitions within the body of modern football” –Kári Tulinius.

Now that Pierre Igot has cracked the winning formula for prizeless letter o’ the day please expect a cascade of 1,057 funny and even more not so funny football clips. This one showcasing Cambridge United’s famously versatile use of body parts is definitely one of the former” – John Kyle.

Congratulations on the ability to post a story (Friday’s Quote of the Day) with Australian content without the prefix of flamin’” – Mike Clarke (and no other flamin’ readers).

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Kári Tulinius.

This world belongs to Queens Park Ladies Under-12s, we’re all just living in it. The Bournemouth-based girls team have earned the “Invincibles” tag after finishing top of the table, winning 18 games, drawing four and losing none. Oh, and they did it in a boys’ league. Despite initial resistance from county FA bosses, who told them they would have to play in a girls’ competition, QPL secured the title last weekend. Four of the girls in the 14-strong squad – who train twice a week – have been playing together since they were five years old. “They’ve worked so hard all season, not just in the games, but in their training as well,” roared manager Toby Green. “They have been really disciplined … they deserve it.” Good luck to the boys competing in the U13 Bournemouth Youth Football League second division next season, you are going to need it.

Sir Big Jim Ratcliffe has no intention of hoofing Erik ten Hag through the Manchester United door marked Do One before the end of the season. Meanwhile, the Dutchman has correctly identified that his United side demonstrated “very low levels” as Coventry threatened a comeback for the ages at Wembley.

But West Ham have every intention of seeing David Moyes out of the London Stadium exit door when their season limps to a close, with Rúben Amorim lined up as his replacement.

Jude Bellingham, the little tinker, popped up late on to seal the clásico and cheesegrate Barça’s season to dust.

Pep Guardiola risks City players’ lives in response to late-season fixture congestion: “They are in the fridge for two days,” he roared. Please don’t put people in fridges, Football Daily readers.

Trent Alexander-Arnold invited more reader advisories after Liverpool finally remembered how to score from open play against Fulham: “The rest of them are big now, five finals,” he blabbed. “Throw the kitchen sink at it and try to get it over the line.” Leave all bits of kitchens where they are, everyone.

Good news for Arsenal’s title tilt: Cole Palmer is ill and will probably have to phone in sick for Chelsea before Tuesday’s match.

Barnsley have shoved Neill Collins through the door marked Do One after a five-match winless run has left the fifth-placed League One club in danger of dropping out of the playoff spots.

Udinese have sacked Gabriele Cioffi and brought in Fabio Cannavaro as his replacement. The World Cup winner’s only managerial experience in Italy is getting Benevento relegated to the third tier last season. Yikes!

And José Mourinho reckons he would have gotten away with being Manchester United manager for even longer if it wasn’t for those meddling kids Ed Woodward. “I am who I am. I am a football man,” he honked. “Ed comes from a different background and what Ten Hag has in his time at Manchester United I didn’t have. I didn’t have that level of support. I didn’t have that level of trust.”

More pain for Coventry fans. Jonathan Liew on the greatest FA Cup moment that never was. And here’s fan Jonny Weeks on “the most scintillating and sickening football experience” of his life. Gulp.

The Holmgaards produce the magic for Everton, and Chelsea earn the right to make history. It’s your Women’s Big Cup and WSL talking points, right here. And Suzanne Wrack waxes lyrical about Erin Cuthbert’s match-winning display in Chelsea’s first-leg win over Barcelona.

“Jude Victor William Bellingham, this is your league”. Sid Lowe writes on Real Madrid, their clásico win and putting the boy from Birmingham’s debut La Liga season in context.

Dortmund remain in an identity crisis, fifth in the Bundesliga but in the last four of the Champions League. Is there any route to them doing A Leverkusen domestically, Andy Brassell wonders?

An Ariana Grande pun finally makes its way onto Big Website: Our resident Ligue Urrrrn expert Eric Devin details the return of “King Georges” Mikautadze to Metz, after a disastrous spell at Ajax where he “spent two months alone in a hotel”.

Simon Burnton on Sir Alex Ferguson’s latterday career as a fairy godfather for young managers.

A grand total of 10 talking points from the weekend’s Premier League and FA Cup mayhem. And here’s Oliver Connolly’s weekend awards from England’s top tier.

And Ryan Gravenberch scored a cracker at Fulham as he tries to make his case for Jürgen Klopp’s final games.

We figured Coventry City fans might need something to cheer them up so here’s a picture of fans’ favourite Ernie Hunt looking resplendent at pre-season training in July 1969. Hunt scored one of the Sky Blues’ most famous goals – a wonderful volley after an improvised flick to him from a free-kick – against Everton in 1970.