"The majority view is that the evidence is clear."
A tribunal has dismissed a racial discrimination claim made by a man who alleged Liverpool FC rejected his job application due to unconscious bias.
Asad Farooq, from Birmingham, applied for the role of first-team operations officer in November 2022 but was not shortlisted for an interview.
He later claimed his British Asian heritage was a factor in the decision.
Liverpool FC successfully argued that Mr Farooq’s application was rejected purely due to a lack of relevant experience.
The club told the tribunal there was “no evidence whatsoever that race played any part at all” in the hiring process.
The position attracted 487 applications, with 444 being considered before a shortlist was drawn up.
Louise Dobson, Liverpool’s head of first-team operations, initially rejected Mr Farooq due to his salary expectations.
The hiring process was reopened after the club’s first choice turned down the role.
Mr Farooq, who was working in a temporary job managing a catering contract at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was once again turned down due to his lack of experience in operational first-team roles.
Delivering a majority ruling at Liverpool Civil and Family Court, employment judge Nicola Benson said:
“The majority view is that the evidence is clear.
“At the stage she carried out the shortlisting again, with the intent to reduce the number of 444 applications to a more manageable number, there are no facts or inferences from which we could conclude it had anything to do with the claimant’s race.”
One magistrate disagreed, believing Mr Farooq should have been interviewed.
Judge Benson noted the panel had inferred Liverpool declined to provide diversity statistics on its 800-strong workforce because the figures were “bad”.
However, she said that decision was made after the hiring process and was not linked to Ms Dobson’s decision.
Defending the selection process, Ms Dobson said:
“We wanted somebody who was dealing with players, coaching staff, on a day-to-day level.
“Someone who was dealing with catering was not what we were looking for.”
Anisa Niaz-Dickinson, representing Liverpool FC, argued the decision was “reasonable” and “untainted” by racial bias.
She pointed out that three non-white candidates, including two of mixed Asian and white heritage, were shortlisted and interviewed.
Mr Farooq said he first suspected discrimination when he saw a LinkedIn post in May 2023 from a temporary staff member, Anna Garnett, which wrongly suggested she had been hired for the role.
The tribunal heard Ms Garnett had only been brought in to assist with administrative tasks while the successful candidate, Zac Foley, served his notice period.
Mr Foley was hired from Blackburn Rovers, where he had been academy football operations manager since 2019.
Ms Dobson stood by her decision and Mr Foley remains in the role.
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