Nicky Butt urges Kobbie Mainoo to refuse England's third-place start after seven games on the bench

Nicky Butt has publicly urged Kobbie Mainoo to refuse to play in England’s World Cup 2026 third-place match against France on Saturday, arguing the Manchester United midfielder has been so poorly treated by Thomas Tuchel that featuring in what Butt calls a “pointless jumped-up friendly” would only compound the injustice.

Mainoo, 21, is one of only two outfield players yet to appear at the tournament, alongside late call-up Trevoh Chalobah. Despite being part of the squad for all seven of England’s matches, he has not played a single minute. With Tuchel expected to rotate heavily for the third-place fixture, Mainoo is understood to be in contention for his first appearance of the summer.

Butt is having none of it. “I do not know what is going on there, there’s something not quite right with it,” the 51-year-old 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.”

Butt’s frustration extends beyond Mainoo’s situation. The former United captain believes Tuchel cannot survive England’s semi-final elimination and should be dismissed by the Football Association. “There’s no way he can stay on. Not a cat in hell’s chance after that,” Butt said. “He’s come in and played negative football, crazy negative football, in the semi-final against a beatable Argentina team.”

On potential successors, Butt named Newcastle manager Eddie Howe as his preferred candidate. “Eddie Howe would be brilliant. I’d love him to go in, it’d be great,” he said. He also highlighted Mauricio Pochettino, currently in charge of the United States national team, pointing to the Argentine’s existing relationship with FA technical director John McDermott, who worked alongside Pochettino during his time at Tottenham.

Butt did float Pep Guardiola as a longer-term option but ruled him out for now, noting that the Spaniard had only recently left Manchester City citing a need for rest from football. “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,” Butt said. “But if we were nine months down the line, I’d definitely be going for Pep Guardiola.”