Is Harry Maguire scapegoating down to qualifying boredom? Frustrated Hull City manager Liam Rosenior thinks so

England manager Gareth Southgate called the treatment of the centre-back by some pundits "a joke" this week, and on Thursday Maguire's mother released a statement in which he wrote: "seeing the level of negative and abusive comments (he) is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country."

The Sheffield-born defender has lost the club captaincy and his first-team place at Manchester United under manager Erik ten Hag, but the quality of his past international performances – plus a shortage of viable alternatives – means he has remained an England regular.

There have been notable shows of support for Maguire from his own in-stadium fans in recent matches for club and country but he was a figure of fun with Scotland's crowd on Tuesday – in a friendly where he scored an own goal – and he seems to be a constant target for "fans" not at matches.

It depresses Hull City coach Rosenior, who played alongside Maguire when he moved from Sheffield United to the Tigers in 2014.

"I don't understand the mentality of this country," said former full-back Rosenior. "I love this country, it was my dream to play for England (he did so for England Under-20s and 21s).

"But there's always one scapegoat, I don't understand why.

"Whether it's been Paul Gascoigne in the past, Raheem Sterling for a little while, now it's Harry's turn. If it's not Harry it's someone else.

"I've known Harry from when he was a young age and played with him here, he's a great lad – down to earth, humble, unbelievable character and it frustrates me.

"We've got some really, really good places in the tournaments we've had. I don’t understand. It's almost like there's a boredom when there's a break between tournaments and we need to find negatives.

"We've got one of the most talented groups of players I've known and we still seem to find someone we can be negative about.

"Harry's a top player, more than good enough to play for his country and I don't understand why we have this culture of looking for scapegoats."

Unbeaten England are top of their qualifying group and seem certain to qualify for next summer’s European Championship in Germany. The 2021 European finalists have only failed to qualify for one major tournament in the last 30 years – the 2008 European Championship.