Man suing Liverpool FC 'lost his cool' in email

A man suing Liverpool FC claiming his job application was rejected due to racial discrimination emailed a HR director accusing her of "white privilege" and "bigotry".

Asad Farooq claimed he was not offered the post of first team operations officer at the Premier League giant in 2022 because of "unconscious bias" on the part of the hiring team.

However the club said Mr Farooq did not have enough experience of the "high pressure" day-to-day operational workings of a football club.

An Employment Tribunal heard Mr Farooq had complained to the club's human resources (HR) department, and after the club declined to share detailed statistics about the diversity of its workforce he "lost his cool".

In the email, to director of resourcing Jenny Ryan, he accused her of showing "white privilege and ignorance".

Mr Farooq wrote: "Once I proved that discrimination exists at the club, you need to resign and leave my club!! Your bigotry isn't welcome at my club."

While giving evidence at Liverpool Civil Justice Centre he apologised for the email, telling the tribunal he acted out of "frustration".

"I hold my hands up to that, it shouldn't have been said, I lost my cool," he said.

"But we are human and we make mistakes."

The job was eventually given to Zac Foley, who was academy football operations manager and pre-academy manager at Blackburn Rovers.

Yunus Lunat, representing Mr Farooq, argued that his client's experience managing a catering contract at the 2022 Qatar World Cup and previous roles as a team liaison officer for the Football Association were not given proper consideration due to racial "stereotyping".

However Anisa Niaz-Dickinson, representing Liverpool FC, pointed out that three non-white people, including two of mixed Asian and white heritage, had been shortlisted and interviewed for the job.

The tribunal had heard there was an initial "sifting" process where both Mr Farooq's and Mr Foley's applications were rejected due to their salary demands.

However the process was restarted after the club's preferred candidate turned the job offer down and both men were back in the frame.

Mr Farooq's application was again dismissed.

The hiring manager for the role, head of first team operations Louise Dobson, told the tribunal said there was "absolutely not" any bias against Mr Farooq due to his race.

Ms Dobson said: "Your client had a catering background, he wasn't as involved in the day-to-day operations as we were looking for."

Ms Niaz-Dickinson told the tribunal in her closing submissions: "There is no evidence whatsoever that the second shortlisting was conducted with any taint of racial bias."

Mr Lunat told the tribunal: "The claimant is not saying that there was necessarily a conscious decision here to not recruit somebody of his ethnicity, that doesn't happen," he said.

"The case here is that there is a material influence due to race or ethnicity, that's what this case is about."

The judge is set to make a decision on the case on Wednesday.

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