Tom Brady questions Wayne Rooney's ‘work ethic' at Birmingham

Independent

5 days ago

NFL superstar Tom Brady questioned Wayne Rooney 's 'work ethic' during his short-lived tenure in charge of Birmingham City in 2023.
Brady, who is a minority owner of the club, stars in a new Amazon Prime documentary series, due to air on Friday which outlines the trials and tribulations the new ownership group, Knighthead Capital Management LLC, faced when taking over.
Back in 2023 Rooney was brought in as manager two months after the new owners bought the club, replacing John Eustace with the Blues sat sixth in the Championship. Rooney was sacked 83 days later as the club dropped to 20th and were eventually relegated.
In the new television series, Brady is seen questioning Rooney before the decision to sack him with the seven-time Super Bowl winner telling colleagues: "I'm a little worried about our head coach's work ethic."
He added: "I mean, I don't know, I don't have great instincts on that."
For his part, Rooney attempted to explain his thoughts on Birmingham's problems telling Brady that the culture surrounding the club needs to change.
He said: "Why they're playing in the Championship and not the Premier League, is because we've all passed a ball, kicked the ball and run, but it's a focus, concentrated for 90 minutes."
After his dismissal Rooney did not feel 13 weeks was "sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed".
Once Birmingham's relegation from the second division was confirmed, Brady later put the blame on the players despite the owners hiring seven different managers in just 10 months.
"Well we've already changed the coach, so it's really the players because the coach doesn't go out there and put the ball in the goal," Brady said.
"They were lazy, they were entitled and when you're lazy and entitled, you don't have much of a chance to succeed. We've got to change all the people that are associated with losing, so I think this summer there's going to be a lot of people gone."
Birmingham spent £30m on transfers ahead of the 2024/25 season which is a monumental sum for a League One side. The club went on to break the Football League record for most points in a season and topped the table with 111 to secure their promotion back to the Championship for the upcoming season.