A British Asian man is reportedly suing Liverpool FC over racial discrimination, claiming the club rejected his application for a job in favour of someone less experienced.
Asad Farooq has a degree in stadium and event management and has worked for Tottenham Hotspur and at the Qatar World Cup. But the 25-year-old was not called in for an interview when he applied at Liverpool in November last year for a job in administration.
The advertised role said the candidate should preferably "have experience of working in an elite sporting environment", leading Farooq to believe he had a great chance of bagging the role.
However, Farooq was later 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".
Farooq, who lives in Birmingham, then looked up the person who was eventually appointed to the role and according to their LinkedIn profile, had no experience in football and had experience in just one full-time job since graduation.
Farooq then got in touch with Yunus Lunat, a lawyer who was the first Muslim to sit on the Football Association (FA) council and was a cultural minority representative on Liverpool's official supporters' committee.
Also a Liverpool supporter, Farooq 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."
Adding further, Farooq said that Liverpool are always talking about "how they want to break down barriers but this is not breaking down barriers".
Farooq also revealed that the person offered the role that he had applied for was only temporary and had been replaced by someone else. However, the temporary candidate was subsequently offered another job within the club.
Meanwhile, Farooq's lawyer said that when he approached Liverpool on behalf of his client, the Anfield club gave a different reason for rejecting his application, claiming it was because of his salary demands.
It is understood that during an employment tribunal hearing in March, Liverpool will attempt to have the case dismissed.
Liverpool are currently having a fine run on the field as they are set to end the year as table toppers in the Premier League. The Reds have 42 points from 19 games, two points clear of second-placed Arsenal.
