Fulham Withdraw Complaint Against Liverpool

Fulham have withdrawn a complaint to the Premier League relating to Liverpool's pursuit of Clint Dempsey in the summer following an apology from Tom Werner, the Anfield club's chairman, for their “unprofessional” behaviour.

Goal.com exclusively revealed in August that the Cottagers had flagged the Merseysider's conduct to the FA, and the west London club have since accepted the apology which cited actions that were “simply not acceptable” and added that Werner “emphasized his regret for the entire episode.”

Fulham said on their official website: “Liverpool’s Chairman Tom Werner apologized personally to Mohamed Al Fayed, stating that his club were wholly responsible for unprofessional behaviour toward Fulham and emphasized his regret for the entire episode.

“The chairman decided that this sincere action was enough, and as a gesture of goodwill, instructed that all complaints against them be dropped.”

The Reds came under criticism for the manner in which they tried to tempt Dempsey to Merseyside, including a premature announcement of his transfer to Liverpool appearing on owner's Fenway Sports Group's website in July.

The Cottagers felt that after a sustained campaign to unsettle Dempsey and no forthcoming bid, Liverpool's behaviour was a form of tapping up their attacker, who was the club's top scorer in the 2011-12 season with 23 goals. Subsequently Fulham made a complaint against the Merseysiders after Dempsey moved to Tottenham on deadline day for £6 million.

The move prompted a war of words between the Texan and Martin Jol, with the former claiming he would have stayed at the club if he had been made to feel loved.

“If you always felt valued and appreciated enough, I don’t think you’d ever leave,” Dempsey said. “But it came to a point where I didn’t feel valued and appreciated, not by the fans, but by other situations.”

Yet Jol, refused to entertain the explanation, instead suggesting Dempsey wanted a move to earn a better contract.

“I told Clint in our last conversation that I loved him like a son, but he didn’t care because he wanted to move,” the Fulham manager said.

“So it’s a bit far-fetched and I don’t think it was personal because he never said he didn’t feel loved by me. I think he didn’t feel appreciated and that means, he told me, ‘you have all the money in the world’, but I haven’t. He wanted a financial move and he wanted to play Champions League.”