His application was initially rejected because of his salary demands, the tribunal heard, and when the first person to be offered the job turned down the role and applications were considered again, Farooq’s was rejected owing to a lack of experience in an operational first-team role.
Foley joined the club from Blackburn Rovers, where he had been academy football operations manager and pre-academy manager since 2019, and is still in the role at Liverpool, the tribunal heard.
At a tribunal at Liverpool civil and family court, the club successfully argued there was “no evidence whatsoever that race played any part at all”, and that his application was unsuccessful owing to a lack of experience.
At the time, Farooq was in a temporary role, managing a catering contract at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the tribunal heard.
The tribunal heard that 487 people had applied to the role, with 444 of these applications considered, before a more manageable shortlist was drawn up.
