Bobby Duncan’s agent banned and fined £10k after claiming Liverpool bullied his client and ‘damaged his mental health’
BOBBY DUNCAN’S agent, Saif Rubie, has been banned and fined £10,000 after claiming Liverpool bullied his client and “damaged his mental health”. Rubie hit the headlines earlier this year after an incredible outburst on Twitter. The agent had claimed the Reds had caused Duncan – a cousin of club legend Steven Gerrard – to suffer […]
BOBBY DUNCAN’S agent, Saif Rubie, has been banned and fined £10,000 after claiming Liverpool bullied his client and “damaged his mental health”.
Rubie hit the headlines earlier this year after an incredible outburst on Twitter.
The agent had claimed the Reds had caused Duncan – a cousin of club legend Steven Gerrard – to suffer from “deep mental health issues”.
Rubie was quickly hit by a wave of angry Liverpool fans hitting out at his controversial comments – with the agent later deleting his Twitter account.
But now Rubie has been hit with a six-week ban from the FA, as well as a fine of £10,000 fine, for his “improper comment”.
The FA claimed Rubie’s tirade “brought the game into disrepute” – and he will now be banned between December 4 and January 15.
Earlier this year Rubie had said: “He has suffered some deep mental health issues with all the stress the club has put him under.
“Not only is he [Duncan] on a very small salary but he also has one season left on his contract after this one and Liverpool have flatly said he will not get a new one.
“Bobby has not left his room for four days because of this and will never go back to Liverpool again.
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“My only concern now is his mental health and well being.”
Duncan eventually left the club to join Fiorentina in a £1.8million deal in the summer.
Gerrard’s cousin had joined the club from Manchester City just a year earlier, scoring 32 goals in all competitions for the Reds’ Under-18s.
Saif Rubie's full outburst
A few months ago before the end of last season, Bobby had meetings with the club’s hierarchy including academy director Alex Inglethorpe.
It was recognised that Bobby wasn’t happy at Liverpool for different reasons and Alex invited us to bring offers to the club for the exit of Bobby Duncan.
For a player with zero first team experience, no clubs were prepared to pay an outright reasonable fee for a player they got for £200,000 last summer.
With that in mind we have been able to find clubs that were ready to take Bobby on a season-long loan with a option to buy for amounts of £1.5million upwards which is a great return for the club on a player who will never play for the Liverpool first team and who doesn’t want to be there.
The club and Michael Edwards specifically made it clear that that kind of deal wouldn’t work.
So then myself and my team worked even harder and managed to get a deal on the table for a loan with an obligation to buy after five starts with a higher transfer fee than before and a sell-on to Liverpool.
Putting all of that aside, the real reason Bobby missed the Under-23 game (against Southampton) on Monday is because he has suffered some deep mental health issues with all the stress the club has put him under.
Stress of being told he can leave but then going out of their way to force him to stay against his will.
Not only is he on a very small salary but he also has one season left on his contract after this one and Liverpool have flatly said he will not get a new one.
Bobby has not left his room for four days because of this and will never go back to Liverpool again and my only concern now is his mental health and well being.
This is not really dignified behaviour from a club with the rich history of Liverpool and one who one of their greatest ever players Steven Gerrard happens to be Bobby’s cousin.
It’s a sad state of afford that a club such as a Liverpool can be allowed to get away with destroying the life of a young man such as Bobby.
In this situation all that matters is the players health.