Nicky Butt's Bold Advice to Kobbie Mainoo: Walk Away from Third-Place Play-Off

Nicky Butt has never been one for half-measures. As England prepare for a World Cup third-place play-off that already feels like an afterthought, the former Manchester United midfielder has delivered a blunt message to Kobbie Mainoo: don’t even lace your boots.

Mainoo, 21, battled his way into Thomas Tuchel’s final England squad on the back of a superb second half of the season at Old Trafford under interim boss Michael Carrick. He arrived at the tournament as one of the form midfielders in the Premier League, a symbol of United’s revival and a fresh option for an England side in need of energy.

He has not played a single minute.

Seven matches. Seven times on the bench. England’s run ended in heartbreak against Argentina in the semi-final on Wednesday night, and Mainoo never got closer than a warm-up.

Now, with a dead-rubber meeting against France looming on Saturday night, kick-off 10pm BST, Tuchel is expected to rotate heavily. Mainoo is tipped to finally get his first taste of World Cup football.

Butt’s response? Don’t do it.

“I do not know what is going on there, there’s something not quite right with it,” Butt said, laying bare his frustration at how the youngster has been used – or rather, ignored.

“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.”

In Butt’s eyes, this is not an opportunity. It is an insult wrapped up as a consolation prize.

Tuchel under fire after Argentina defeat

If Butt is fiercely protective of Mainoo, he is even more scathing about the man in charge.

Tuchel’s England were knocked out by Argentina in a semi-final that will linger for all the wrong reasons. For Butt, the tactical approach was unforgivable: too cautious, too negative, and against a side he clearly believes were there to be beaten.

“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,” he said.

That night has sharpened the debate around Tuchel’s future. Butt does not see a debate at all.

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

“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.”

Tuchel’s nationality, Butt believes, will only compound the hostility after such a bruising exit.

“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’.”

The sense is of a relationship already broken, a manager cut off from the mood of the country and from the kind of emotional credit that once protected Robson and Keegan in tougher times.

Who next? Butt’s England shortlist

Sack the manager and the next question arrives instantly: who takes it on?

For Butt, the dream candidate is obvious but out of reach – at least for now.

“If we were nine months down the line, I’d definitely be going for Pep Guardiola,” he admitted. The timing, though, makes it impossible.

“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 attention, in Butt’s mind, turns elsewhere. Two names stand out: Eddie Howe and Mauricio Pochettino.

“Eddie Howe would be brilliant. I’d love him to go in, it’d be great,” Butt said, backing the Newcastle manager’s credentials for the international stage.

Then there is Pochettino, whose long-standing relationship with McDermott during their time together at Tottenham could prove crucial.

“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.”

The warning, though, hangs in the air. England managers can arrive with the best intentions and the brightest reputations, only to be reshaped by the job itself.

“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.”

For now, the immediate decision sits with Mainoo and Tuchel. One young midfielder staring at a first cap in a game his former academy chief calls “pointless”. One head coach clinging to a job Butt believes he has already lost.

England’s World Cup is over. The real battle, for what comes next, is only just starting.