The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 1 September 2019^ FINAL 5CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER
SAM WALLACE
Duncan and his
agent wrong to
go public with
bullying claims
Database
F
or those whose job it is to
educate the teenage
footballers at leading
English clubs facing
daunting odds to make it
as professionals, one
imagines that the case study of Bobby
Duncan, Saif Rubie and Liverpool will
figure prominently in their teaching
for some years to come.
The claims this week from Rubie,
adviser of Duncan, an 18-year-old
Liverpool academy striker, that he is
facing “deep mental health issues” are
being treated seriously by the club,
who feel that they have no option
other than to take them at face value.
As for the rest of this conflagration
played out on social media, quite
frankly, where does one start?
It is a cluster-catastrophe
orchestrated by Duncan’s
intermediary Rubie, who might be the
first self-styled public relations expert
obliged to delete his Twitter account
in the wake of his own advice. It was
Rubie who released a statement about
Duncan in which he made a number of
extremely serious allegations against
the club and technical director
Michael Edwards that Liverpool have
strenuously denied. Rubie did not
respond to a request to comment
when contacted at the end of
the week.
The state of Duncan’s mental health
is not to be taken lightly, and the
extent of that will have to be
established by the club when they
have the opportunity to meet him.
Rubie’s key allegation was that
these issues flow from the club’s
unwillingness to loan or sell
Duncan, culminating in the phrase
to which the greatest exception was
taken: “Mentally bullying and
destroying the life of a young
man.” Not so much the
proverbial nuclear option in
transfer negotiations, but
the full Death Star
superlaser.
What, then, is the
reality, and what were
Duncan’s options of a
move from Liverpool, at
the age of 18, as a player
who was starting his first full
season in the club’s under-23s?
There is a difficult truth to
approach here which would be
hard for any player – especially
a cousin of Steven Gerrard.
That being that Duncan, at his
current level – even after
doing a first-team pre-season- was considered to be nowhere near
contention.
Like all 18-year-olds, there is scope
for improvement and he is regarded to
be a decent finisher as well as a
committed competitor. He may well
surprise everyone and find a new
dimension to his game that means he
exceeds the more modest predictions
for his career. Certainly this is not a
player who is rated as ready to start
games in Serie A for Fiorentina,
understood to be one of the clubs
Rubie claimed in his statement were
ready to offer a loan deal.
The other were Nordsjaelland in
Denmark, and one might reasonably
ask what is wrong with an ambitious
teenager trying his luck somewhere in
Europe? Who would not want to pull
on that purple jersey and live the
Gabriel Batistuta dream in Florence
for a season? The problem with
Fiorentina’s offer was that, according
to reliable sources, it was more like a
trial than a loan.
English clubs have been reluctant to
loan young players to Italy in recent
years because those deals have
typically come with so many
conditions that are unlikely to be met.
The most likely outcome is that the
player returns after a year having
played very little or not at all, with no
benefit to the loaning club, sporting
or financial.
The details of that offer, and the one
from Nordsjaelland, were rejected on
behalf of the club by Alex Inglethorpe,
the academy director, and someone
who can rightly be said to have his
young players’ best interests at heart.
Inglethorpe, with the agreement of
Edwards, felt Duncan could develop
much better this season with the
under-23s. He is some way behind
fifth-choice striker Rhian Brewster
(left) – nine months older than Duncan- who himself is behind Divock Origi
for a place on the first-team
substitutes’ bench.
A failed loan on the CV helps neither
parent club nor player, in a game
where perception still counts for so
much. A reputation in the game is
worth protecting and Liverpool also
have to judge the best course for an
Wrong turn: Bobby
Duncan’s adviser
may have harmed
his player’s career
prospects at
Liverpool after
accusing the club of
bullying this week
and ‘destroying the
life of a young man’Teenager’s
well-being
remains a
serious issue
and it is to be
admired if he
wishes to
develop his
career, but
accusations
and rows on
Twitter are
likely to
create more
problemsAny intermediary
with serious concerns
should raise them
privately with club
asset for whom they paid £200,000. It
is worth noting that Manchester City’s
original price for Duncan, when he
told them that he wanted to leave their
academy last year, was £400,000, but
there was no market at that level.
Duncan decided to leave City
shortly after the club signed teenage
striker Nabil Zoubdi Touaizi from
Valencia. One wonders if the arrival at
Liverpool from Fulham this summer of
the fast-tracked 16-year-old Harvey
Elliott – also part of the first team
pre-season – might have had a similar
effect. In terms of progress, Duncan
only needs to look at the new contract
given to Curtis Jones, also 18 and
another local lad, to see that Jones, six
months older, is regarded as much
closer to the finished item.
It is frustrating for academy players
at Liverpool that they are on a
different site to the first team until theLIVERPOOL FC VIA GETTY IMAGESSteve Cooper will leave poring over the
Championship table to others despite
his side claiming top spot after they
ended Leeds United’s unbeaten start to
the season.
As statement results go, this was up
there with the most eye-catching, but
the Swansea head coach wasn’t in the
mood to engage in any kind of unwise
hyperbole despite the impressive way
his side maintained their own unde-
feated record thanks to a dramatic
90th-minute intervention from substi-
tute Wayne Routledge.
“I’ve not even looked at the table yet
this season,” insisted Cooper, who has
made an immediate impact since tak-Leeds United
0Swansea City
Routledge 90^1Att: 34,935
By Gabriel Kerr at Elland Roading charge over the summer. This was
the Swans’ fifth victory in six games,
and their first at Elland Road for almost
70 years.
Cooper, who guided England Under-
17s to World Cup success two years ago,
added: “It’s a good result, there’s no
doubt about it, but that’s all it is, one
result in a long, long season.
“Not many teams will come here and
intend to play like we did today. It’s not
really about making a statement at this
stage, it’s more about looking at our-
selves and striving to be better.
“We felt there were areas in the
Leeds game we could exploit. It’s a
pleasing victory, but it’s way too early
for any mention of being top at this
stage.”
Marcelo Bielsa refused to be too crit-
ical of his side, who failed to score on
home soil for the first time in almost six
months due to a combination of waste-
ful finishing and some admirably stolid
defending from the visitors, whose
centre-back pairing of Joe Rodon and
Mike van der Hoorn excelled form start
to finish.
Despite that, the hosts could havebeen out of sight by the interval, with
Liam Cooper’s header from a corner in
first-half stoppage time crashing back
off the crossbar.
Ezgjan Alioski at this stage spurned
two clear chances when arriving un-
marked at the far post as Swansea ini-
tially struggled to cope with the threat
of Stuart Dallas down the hosts’ right.
Patrick Bamford headed another of thefull-back’s inviting centres wide and
his replacement after the break, the on-
loan Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah,
was also guilty of frittering away two
good chances.
He fired over when, for once evading
the Swansea defence, before sending
an unmarked header into the side-net-
ting when it appeared easier to score.
Without the £40m attacking threatof Daniel James and Oli McBurnie fol-
lowing their departure to the Premier
League over the summer, Swansea still
carried menace going forward, espe-
cially on the break.
Leeds goalkeeper Kiko Casilla was
forced into a hurried save by the excel-
lent Matt Grimes, and substitute Sam
Surridge narrowly failed to direct a late
headed effort on target.
Routledge then stepped up to settle
matters.
He maintained his composure in a
crowded penalty area as stoppage-time
approached, to send a far from
perfectly-struck shot bouncing into
the bottom corner from a dozen yards.
And thus seal a classic smash-and-grab
result.
Bielsa said: “We needed to win
today, or at the very minimum not to
lose. To be fair, I can’t be too critical of
the players, but we’ve lost a game that
we could have won.
‘‘That’s five points we’ve dropped at
home, and we’ve created enough
chances so far this season to have won
all our six games so far, so that’s a disap-
pointment.”Cricket
Tour Match
Derbyshire v Australia
At Derby Derbyshire won toss
Derbyshire — First Innings 172 (du Plooy 86)
Australia — First Innings 338-5 dec.
(Marsh 74, Khawaja 72, Harris 64)
Derbyshire — Second Innings
(Overnight 53-3)
J L du Plooy lbw b Marsh 37
A L Hughes b Neser 11
†H R Hosein c Carey b Siddle 8
M J J Critchley not out 17
A F Gleadall b Marsh 0
D R Melton b Starc 0
Hamildullah Qadri c Wade b Starc 0
A P Palladino abs 0
Extras (b8 lb3) 11
Total (36.4 overs) 112
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-22, 3-37, 4-58, 5-85, 6-99,
7-99, 8-112, 9-112.
Bowling: M A Starc 10.4-2-39-4, M G Neser 8-3-14-1,
M Labuschagne 4-0-22-0, P M Siddle 8-2-21-2, M R
Marsh 6-3-5-2.
Umpires: N Pratt and N L Bainton.
Australia beat Derby by an innings and 54 runs
Cycling
LA VUELTA (Spain).-Stage 8 (Valls to Igualada
166.9km): 1 N Arndt (Germany) Team Sunweb 3h 50m
48s; 2 A Aranburu (Spain) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA; 3 T
van der Sande (Belgium) Lotto Soudal at same time.
Overall: 1 N Edet (France) Cofidis Solutions Credits 32h
16m 24s; 2 D Teuns (Belgium) Bahrain-Merida +2m
21s; 3 M A Lopez (Colombia) Astana Pro Team +3-01; 4
P Roglic (Slovenia) Team Jumbo-Visma +3-07.
DEUTSCHLAND TOUR.-Stage 3 (Gottingen to Eisenach
189km): 1 K Asgreen (Denmark) Deceuninck-QuickStep
4h 27m 53s; 2 J Stuyven (Belgium) TrekSegafredo at
same time. Overall: 1 Stuyven 12h 38m 21s; 2 S
Colbrelli (Italy) Bahrain-Merida +13; 3 A Lutsenko
(Kazakhstan) Astana pro Team +18.
Bowls
NATIONAL CH'SHIPS (Royal Leamington Spa).-Mixed
Fours, Semi-finals: Gloucestershire (J Surman, P
Callaghan, L Williamson & N Kitchen) bt Sussex (R
Mackriell, Lo Kuhler, P Gandey & C Blinco) 25-8;
Lincolnshire (R Hill, C Tomlin, A Caress & M Spencer) bt
Hampshire (J Hudson, H Gabriel, A Geary & C Daniels)
25-11. Final: Gloucestershire bt Lincolnshire 23-15.
Tony Allcock Trophy, Qtr-finals: Brimfield & Little
Hereford, Herefordshire bt Driffield, Yorkshire 33-32;
Camberley, Surrey bt Chacewater, Cornwall 32-30;
Eastbourne, Sussex bt Hemingford, Huntingdonshire
43-31; Box, Wiltshire bt Rosedale, Hertfordshire 43-20.European Football
FRANCE: Angers 2 Dijon 0-Lyon 1 Bordeaux 1-Nantes 1
Montpellier 0-Nimes 3 Brest 0-Toulouse 2 Amiens 0.
GERMANY: B Leverkusen 0 Hoffenheim 0-B Munich 6
Mainz 1-Freiburg 1 Cologne 2-Schalke 04 3 Hertha
Berlin 0-Union Berlin 3 Borussia Dortmund 1-Wolfsburg
1 Paderborn 1.
ITALY: AC Milan 1 Brescia 0-Juventus 4 Napoli 3.
SPAIN: Getafe 1 Alaves 1-Levante 2 Valladolid
0-Osasuna 2 Barcelona 2-Real Betis 2 Leganes 1.
Golf
OMEGA EUROPEAN MASTERS (Crans-sur-Sierre,
Switzerland).-3rd rd leaders (GB & Ireland unless
stated): 196—A Romero (Argentina) 69 61 66;
197—W Ormsby (Australia) 66 64 67; 198—T
Fleetwood 65 65 68; G Green (Malaysia) 65 64 69;
199—R McIlroy 67 63 69; K Samooja (Finland) 66
71 62; C Bezuidenhout (S Africa) 67 67 65; L Gagli
(Italy) 64 68 67; 200—S Soderberg (Sweden) 64 70
66; S Garcia (Spain) 66 68 66; M Schwab (Austria)
63 67 70; R Paratore (Italy) 67 66 67; 201—N
Bertasio (Italy) 66 70 65. Also: 202—D Horsey 69
67 66; E Van Rooyen (S Africa) 65 69 68; S Jamieson
70 65 67.
Ice Hockey
ELITE LGE CHALLENGE CUP.-Group A: Glasgow 3
Dundee 6. Group C: Sheffield 8 Nottingham 4.Rowing
WORLD CH'SHIPS (Linz-Ottensheim, Austria).-Men,
Quads B-final (top 2 qualify for the Olympics): 1
Norway 5-58.13; 2 GB* (J Walton/A Groom/J
Beaumont/P Lambert) 5-58.65.
Pairs B-final (top 5 qualify for the Olympics): 1 Serbia
6-33.91; 6 GB (M Bolding/T Jeffery) 6-40.65.
Fours A-final: 1 Poland 6-09.86; 2, Romania 6-11.41;
3 GB (M Rossiter/O Cook/R Gibbs/S Carnegie) 6-11.71.
Lightweight doubles C-final: 1 Austrla 6-21.13; 6 GB
(J Copus/Z Lee-Green) 6-26.61.
Women, Quads A-final: 1 China 6-34.65; 2 Poland
6-36.59; 3 Holland 6-36.62; 6 GB (J Leyden/M
Wilson/M Hodgkins-Byrne/C Hodgkins-Byrne) 6-46.84.
Pairs B-final (top 5 qualify for the Olympics): 1
Romania 7-18.88; 4 GB* (S Courty/A Withers) 7-22.45.
Fours B-final (top 2 qualify for the Olympics): 1 GB* (S
Parfett/E Ford/P Swann/H Hill) 6-55.03.
Lightweight doubles A-final: 1 New Zealand 7-15.32;
2 Holland 7-19.51; 3 GB (E Craig/I Grant) 7-21.38.
PARA-ROWING
PR2 (arms and trunk) mixed doubles A-final: 1 GB (L
Rowles/L Whiteley) 8-34.95; 2 Holland 8-37.78; 3
France 9-02.50.
PR3 (whole body use) mixed coxed fours A-final: 1 GB
(E Buttrick/G Rakauskaite/J Fox/O Stanhope/cox E
Wysocki-Jones) 7-09.54; 2 US 7-21.61; 3 Italy 7-29.34.
*= British entry has newly qualified the boat class to TokyoRugby League
Betfred Super League
Catalans Dragons 6 Hull K R 24
Catalans Dragons—T: Mead. G: Gigot.
Hull K R—T: Shaw (2), McGuire. G: Shaw (6). HT: 6-16.
P W D L F A Pts
St Helens 27 24 0 3 846 383 48
Warrington 27 15 0 12 682 491 30
Salford 27 15 0 12 746 569 30
Wigan 26 15 0 11 603 503 30
Hull 27 15 0 12 627 702 30
Castleford 27 14 0 13 594 520 28
Catalans 27 13 0 14 519 675 26
Leeds 26 10 0 16 576 610 20
Wakefield 26 10 0 16 557 666 20
Huddersfield 27 10 0 17 541 706 20
Hull K R 27 10 0 17 516 731 20
London Broncos 26 9 0 17 465 716 18
BETFRED CHAMPIONSHIP: Toronto Wolfpack 62
Barrow 8-Toulouse 42 Dewsbury 14.
TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts
Toronto 26 25 0 1 964 344 50
Toulouse 26 19 0 7 851 422 38
Leigh 25 18 0 7 757 488 36
York 25 17 1 7 574 498 35
Featherstone 25 16 0 9 749 445 32
Sheffield 25 15 0 10 722 616 30Rugby Union
INT'NALS: Georgia 10 Scotland 44-Wales 17 Ireland 22.
Speedway
CH'SHIP: Berwick 53 Newcastle 34-Glasgow 37
Scunthorpe 53-Eastbourne 46 Sheffield 44.
Tennis
US OPEN (Flushing Meadows, New York, Seeded players
in capitals, seeding in brackets).-Men’s Singles 3rd rd:
P Andujar (Spain) bt A Bublik (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-3
6-2; R NADAL (Spain, 2) bt H Chung (South Korea) 6-3
6-4 6-2. Women’s Singles 3rd rd: D VEKIC (Croatia,
23) bt Y Putintseva (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-1; J GOERGES
(Germany, 26) bt K BERTENS (Holland, 7) 6-2 6-3; T
Townsend (US) bt S Cirstea (Romania) 7-5 6-2; B
VANESSA ANDREESCU (Canada, 15) bt C WOZNIACKI
(Denmark, 19) 6-4 6-4; K Ahn (US) bt J Ostapenko
(Latvia) 6-3 7-5; E MERTENS (Belgium, 25) bt A
Petkovic (Germany) 6-3 6-3.
Men’s Doubles 2nd rd: J S CABAL (Colombia) & R
FARAH (Colombia, 1) bt D Evans (GB) & C Norrie (GB)
5-7 6-4 6-3; L Bambridge (GB) & B McLachlan (Japan)
bt N MEKTIC (Croatia) & F SKUGOR (Croatia, 9) 6-3 6-7
(4-7) 6-3; J MURRAY (GB) & K SKUPSKI (GB, 15) bt R
Berankis (Lithuania) & J Ignacio Londero (Argentina)
6-3 6-4; R RAM (US) & J SALISBURY (GB, 10) bt A De
Minaur (Australia) & M Reid (Australia) 6-4 7-5; M
Arevalo (Esa) & J O’Mara (GB) bt M PAVIC (Croatia) &
B SOARES (Brazil, 6) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.Triathlon
ITU WORLD GRAND FINAL (Lausanne, Switzerland).-
Elite, Men: 1 K Blummenfelt (Norway) 1h 50m 47s; 2
M Mola (Spain) 1:51:3; 8 J Brownlee (GB) 1:52:32; 13
A Yee (GB) 1:53:26. Women: 1 K Zaferes (US) 2h 02m
45s; 2 J Learmonth (GB) 2:02:49; 3 G Taylor-Brown
(GB) 2:03:03; 13 S Coldwell (GB) 2:06:49; 18 V Holland
(GB) 2:08:02.
Fixtures 3pm unless stated
Cricket
2ND TEST (day 3 of 5).-Kingston: West Indies v India
(3.30pm).
1ST TWENTY20 INT'NAL.-Pallekele: Sri Lanka v New
Zealand (2.30pm).
WOMEN'S KIA SUPER LGE FINALS DAY.-Hove, Semi-
final: Loughborough Lightning v Southern Vipers (12).
Final: Western Storm v Semi-final Winner (4pm).
Rugby League
BETFRED SUPER LEAGUE
London Broncos v Leeds
Wakefield v Wigan
BETFRED.-Ch'ship: Batley v Featherstone, Bradford v
Sheffield, Halifax v Rochdale, Leigh v York, Widnes v
Swinton. League 1: Coventry v Oldham, Doncaster v
Keighley, Hunslet v Workington, Newcastle v North
Wales Crusaders, Whitehaven v West Wales.new training ground being built at
Kirkby is finished. It can make that
leap to the first team look even bigger
than it is, although there is no doubt
the standard required to play for the
European champions is high. But even
so, it is still hard to explain why player
and adviser made such a monumental
misjudgment this week.
Any intermediary with serious
concerns about the health of a player
is expected to raise that privately with
the club rather than weaponise it in a
public row. Curiously, Duncan’s official
representation contract is understood
to be lodged with another
intermediary, Rob Segal. There is no
suggestion he played any role in last
week’s statement and the ensuing
Twitter fireball.
It was a hard lesson for Duncan,
who will have watched the whole
episode unfold with horror. There isnothing wrong with a young player
wishing to gain first-team experience
away from the parent club
mothership, or indeed cut his ties
altogether. British youngsters have
been doing it this summer: Arsenal’s
Xavier Amaechi, also 18, departed on
a €2.5 million (£2.26 million) move to
Hamburg. At Everton, Scotland
Under-21 striker Fraser Hornby, 19,
went to Kortrijk on a loan move with
an option to buy for the Belgian club.
In those deals there was something
in it for both sides, and the levels
required from the players involved
were attainable. No statements were
required, no rows, no Twitter
accounts deleted. The lesson for all
those young footballers watching
Duncan this week being that if you
have to resort to those kind of tactics
then the chances are you are already
doing it wrong.Bellingham breaks record
Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet
has predicted a big future for Jude
Bellingham after the 16-year-old
became the club’s youngest ever
goalscorer when he came off the
bench to fire home the winner against
Stoke.
Liam Lindsay had given Stoke the
lead but Lukas Jutkiewicz equalised
before Bellingham, who came on as a
first-half substitute for Jefferson
Montero, made it 2-1 with the aid of a
deflection.
“He came and played on the level of
the team,” Clotet said. “As soon as the
option was there he was ready for it
and he took it. He scored a goal that
has given us the three points but he is
very well grounded and he will keep
working hard because it is his hard
work that has given him the chance
today. His goal should be to try to get
established in this squad and play as
many times for the club he loves.”
Elsewhere, Charlton moved up to
second after a 2-0 victory at Reading.
Reading struck the crossbar in the firsthalf through George Puscas but
Charlton improved greatly after the
break, scoring in the 51st minute from
Jonathan Leko’s deflected strike. They
secured the win when leading
marksman Lyle Taylor slotted home an
80th-minute penalty.
Derby manager Phillip Cocu
admitted he was surprised and
“ashamed” by his side’s attitude as they
slipped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of
Brentford.
“We have to be ashamed of that first
half – I understand they are very
disappointed, and I don’t blame them,”
said Cocu of his side’s fans as goals
from Ollie Watkins (2) and Bryan
Mbuemo proved the difference.
Slaven Bilic secured his first home
win as West Bromwich Albion
manager: 3-2 against Blackburn. All
the goals came in the first half,
through Matt Phillips, Jake Livermore
and Grady Diangana.
Huddersfield lost 2-1 at Luton, and
caretaker manager Mark Hudson
questioned the attitude of his players.
“Some of our leaders weren’t strong
enough” he said.CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UPestablished by
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doingRoutledge strikes late to steal it for Swansea
Match winner: Wayne
Routledge celebrates
his goal that ensured
Swansea a first win at
Leeds in 70 yearsRELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws