Stoke City seeking compensation from Liverpool in tapping-up row

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 07 April 2017

Stoke City chairman Peter Coates believes that the club deserve a compensation payment from Liverpool as the tapping-up row between the clubs intensifies.

Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has revealed that he is pursuing a compensation claim after Liverpool were found guilty of tapping up one of the club's youngsters.

The Reds were this week handed a two-year ban from registering players at academy level by the Premier League for breaching strict new rules put in place.

Liverpool, who became the first team to be sanctioned for making an illegal approach for a youngster, broke the rules by offering to pay the unnamed 12-year-old's private school fees as an inducement.

Stoke are not willing to let the matter go, with Coates seeking money from the Reds - on top of the £10,000 they were initially fined - for the manner in which they breached the guidelines.

"We think we have a case of compensation and are pursuing it. We're seeing what can be done because we're disappointed with it," he told The Telegraph. "I'm not having a go at Liverpool because, unfortunately, they are not alone.

"It happens and sometimes they get caught. But we're disappointed with the Premier League for allowing the system to be changed because this would never happen under the old rules.

"One of the reasons we became a Category One club was due to the rules that there was no movement between clubs – in other words, you couldn't poach from other academies without consent or an agreement. It brings stability and stops all these things happening, like inducements to families, and the game would be healthier for it."

The final 12 months of Liverpool's ban, which prohibits them from taking on academy players, is suspended for three years.