British Asian man sues Liverpool FC over racial discrimination Haroon Siddique Legal affairs

British Asian man sues Liverpool FC over racial discrimination
Haroon Siddique Legal affairs

A British Asian man is suing Liverpool Football Club, claiming it racially discriminated against him by rejecting his application for a job in favour of someone less experienced.

Asad Farooq, 25, has a degree in stadium and event management, and has worked for Tottenham Hotspur and at the Qatar World Cup, but was not invited for an interview when he applied to Liverpool in November last year for a job in administration.

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The advertised role said the candidate would ideally “have experience of working in an elite sporting environment”, leading Farooq to believe he had a good chance of landing it.

However, he was subsequently told, in a message seen by the Guardian, that “the level of experience you demonstrated in your application was not as strong as the candidates that were taken forward for interview”.

After spotting that the person appointed to the role – according to their LinkedIn profile – had no football experience and just one full-time job since graduation, Farooq instructed Yunus Lunat, a lawyer who was the first Muslim to sit on the Football Association (FA) council and was ethnic minority representative on Liverpool’s official supporters’ committee.

Liverpool supporter Farooq, who lives in Birmingham, said: “As a south Asian, I’ve worked really hard to get my foot into the door and nobody seems to be giving me any opportunities.

“I’m more than capable of doing the [Liverpool] job. I’m not going to drop this, because they’re claiming that they are all about diversity, they’re claiming that they want south Asians to come into the football industry, but then they do these bad recruitment practices and don’t give us these opportunities.

“They’re talking about how they want to break down barriers but this is not breaking down barriers.”

Farooq said he has asked the club for its diversity statistics but it has refused to provide them.

Related: Football clubs failing to hit ethnic and gender diversity targets, reveals FA

The only publicly available figures are in the FA’s 2022-23 Football Leadership Diversity Code report, which sets a target of 15% of new hires in senior leadership and in team operations roles to be black, Asian or mixed-heritage. Liverpool’s results for new hires were 0% and 9% respectively, compared with 9.1% and 11.2% across all 54 signed up clubs. In interview shortlists at Liverpool, 82% had at least one male black, Asian or mixed-heritage candidate and 68% had at least one female black, Asian or mixed-heritage candidate.

Liverpool’s website says it is “striving to lead the way when it comes to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)” and the club holds the Premier League’s highest honour for EDI.

The club declined to comment on Farooq’s case while proceedings are live or to provide diversity data to the Guardian. It is anticipated that it will try to get the case thrown out at an employment tribunal hearing in March.

Lunat said when he approached Liverpool on Farooq’s behalf the club gave a different reason for rejecting his application, claiming it was because of his salary demands.

Farooq said it later emerged that the person picked for the role that he unsuccessfully applied for was only temporary and had been replaced by someone else, although they were given another job within the club.

Paul Scholes hails £41m Liverpool star as ‘the one’ after Mohamed SalahPhoto by Alex Livesey – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
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PAUL SCHOLES HAILS £41M LIVERPOOL STAR AS ‘THE ONE’ AFTER MOHAMED SALAH
Amir Mir
Amir Mir
Thu 28 December 2023 10:30, UK
Updated Thu 28 December 2023 11:55, UK
Diogo Jota marked his return to Liverpool colours by scoring from the bench during his side’s 2-0 win over Burnley on Boxing Day.

In recent years, the 27-year-old has been hit with a spate of injuries that just haven’t allowed him to showcase his true worth to Liverpool fans.

But Paul Scholes thinks Diogo Jota is a ‘very important’ player for Jurgen Klopp and someone who can provide the goalscoring goods alongside, Mohamed Salah, as he told Premier League Productions (26/12/23 at 7:35 pm).

Whilst the Manchester United legend questions the goalscoring qualities of Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez.

Diogo Jota’s record in Liverpool colours is there for all to see, it’s just the treatment room that has stood in his way of really exploding.

Since moving to Anfield from Wolves in a £41 million deal in 2020, he has scored 50 goals in 131 games in all competitions.

That’s pretty good going for a player who hasn’t started regularly, as well as playing second fiddle to the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

But Paul Scholes certainly appreciates the player and he spoke about him in glowing terms.

Diogo Jota’s importance to Liverpool
“He is (important),” said Scholes. “He chips in with a lot of goals and a lot of very important goals. It’s good coming on for the last 5-10 minutes for a cameo appearance.

“It’s a good goal (against Burnley). It’s not one he meant, but just hit it hard and low as you can, then hope it goes in.

“But he is a very important player for Liverpool. Not all of their front three chip in a lot. But he seems to be the one from Salah who does.”

Burnley FC v Liverpool FC – Premier League
Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Diogo Jota – the best after Mohamed Salah?
There is no doubt that Salah is Liverpool’s undisputed number one and that will remain the case until he leaves.

But you need that quality behind your main man, in case he is injured, needs a breather or in the upcoming case, is off to Africa Cup of Nations duty in January.

This is where Jota’s return from injury has come at the right time because whilst Salah is doing his stuff for Egypt.

You could argue that the Portuguese star will become Liverpool’s most reliable goalscorer.

MORE: Tottenham fear they can’t sign ‘exceptional’ Liverpool player now

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