Nicky Butt Urges Mainoo to Reject Third-Place Play-Off

Nicky Butt has urged Kobbie Mainoo to refuse a late World Cup call from Thomas Tuchel – and says the England manager should be sacked after the semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Mainoo, who forced his way into Tuchel’s squad on the back of a superb second half of the season at Manchester United under interim boss Michael Carrick, has not played a single minute in Qatar. Seven games, seven times on the bench. Not a second on the pitch.

Now, with England dumped out by Argentina and left facing France in Saturday night’s third-place play-off, Tuchel is expected to shuffle his pack and finally turn to the 21-year-old. Butt’s response? Don’t do it.

‘I’d just refuse to play’

Speaking about Mainoo’s situation, Butt did not hold back.

“I do not know what is going on there, there’s something not quite right with it,” the former United midfielder said.

“Now they’re going to play the bomb squad in the stupid third-place game.

“I’d just refuse to play if I was Kobbie Mainoo. I’d say I was injured. It’s a nonsense game, especially when you’ve been treated like that.

“He’s not played a minute of football, now to go and start this pointless jumped-up friendly and potentially get injured for the whole season… no.”

For Butt, this is about respect and risk. A young midfielder finally breaking through at Old Trafford, riding the confidence of a breakthrough campaign, dragged across a tournament and left unused. Then thrown into a game many players privately resent, with nothing at stake but pride and the possibility of injury.

The pressure finally told on Tuchel in that Argentina defeat. The criticism has followed hard and fast.

‘Not a cat in hell’s chance’ Tuchel stays

Butt believes the semi-final performance has to be the end of the road.

“There’s no way he [Tuchel] can stay on. Not a cat in hell’s chance after that,” he said.

“If he stays on, John McDermott [the FA’s technical director] needs to be sacked as well.

“There’s no way you can keep him now. He’s not a Sir Bobby Robson or Kevin Keegan, someone that the nation loves.

“You’re talking about a manager that’s come in and played negative football, crazy negative football, in the semi-final against a beatable Argentina team.

“And it shouldn’t really matter, but people will go against him because he’s German as well, so he’s going to have a nightmare.

“He’s an unbelievable club manager, so just let him go. He won’t want to stay. He might say he does, but deep down he’ll be thinking, ‘pay up, I’m out of here’.”

Tuchel arrived with a reputation for high-level club success and tactical control. Butt’s verdict is that the international stage has exposed a different side: a cautious, safety-first approach that jarred with expectations of an England team stacked with attacking talent, and one that ultimately came up short against an Argentina side Butt insists was there to be beaten.

Howe, Pochettino… but not Pep – for now

Once Butt closes the door on Tuchel, he wastes no time kicking open the debate over who should walk in next.

“If we were nine months down the line, I’d definitely be going for Pep Guardiola. But Pep can’t leave Man City a month ago, saying he needs a rest from football, and then go straight back in. He can’t do that.”

So the focus, in Butt’s eyes, turns to two names: Eddie Howe and Mauricio Pochettino.

“Eddie Howe would be brilliant. I’d love him to go in, it’d be great.

“Mauricio Pochettino’s got an unbelievable relationship with John McDermott. When McDermott was the academy manager at Tottenham, Pochettino was the manager, and they had a really, really good relationship.

“I was in and around it with the Manchester United academy, we would do training camps there so I’ve seen it first hand.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened and I wouldn’t be against it at all. He’s a very, very good manager. A likeable person, plays good football everywhere he goes.

“But we all said the same about Tuchel, yet when they go into that England dynamic, they just change, it’s crazy. I can’t put my finger on why.”

Howe represents, for many, the modern English coach: detailed, progressive, and unafraid to develop young players. Pochettino, meanwhile, brings international experience, a proven track record of improving squads, and that existing bond with McDermott inside the FA structure.

Butt’s warning hangs over both names. The England job has a habit of twisting good managers into something else.

A young star at a crossroads

Amid the noise over Tuchel’s future, Mainoo stands at the heart of a very personal storm. A player who earned his call-up on merit, only to become a spectator as England’s campaign unravelled, now being asked to step into a game his former United mentor dismisses as “nonsense”.

Butt’s message to him is clear: think long-term, think about your season, think about how you’ve been treated.

England, meanwhile, head into a third-place play-off clouded by questions. About their manager. About their football. About how they handle the very talents they claim to be building the future around.