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The Independent
19 hours ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Tom Brady questions Wayne Rooney's ‘work ethic' at Birmingham
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.
The Independent
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Tom Brady's Built in Birmingham is an embarrassing attempt at copying Wrexham
'Probably what he knows about football you could put on a postage stamp,' says a Birmingham City fan. He might be joking but Tom Brady – the man with a greater grounding in the NFL than the EFL – is unaware the other club in the city is called Aston Villa and wasn't told not to pronounce the 'h' in Birmingham. At one stage, in the disastrous first season of Brady's minority ownership, he shows he knows something. 'We lose every f***ing match,' he laments. Built in Birmingham, and even the name is a clue to its objectives, is more about Tom Brady and Tommy Shelby – the Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight features regularly – than John Eustace and John Ruddy. Eustace, infamously, was fired by the new owners Knighthead Capital with Birmingham sixth in the Championship. 'Together we will not fail,' declares chair Tom Wagner. They start off by failing, though possibly not together, given the revolving door to the manager's office. But editorially, they fail too (and it is them, given that Brady and Wagner are executive producers). As any connoisseur of such documentaries knows, the bad years make for more entertaining television than the good. But in a five-part series, one is devoted to the hubristic demotion of 2023-24, four to the bankrolled cruise through League One. And, given some other owners are asset-strippers, or burden clubs with debt, or have other nefarious purposes, it is worth noting that Knighthead has invested. Brady's manager is damning of their inheritance. 'They have a f***ng shipping container as their lead performance centre,' he says, and Wagner and co have improved facilities. They are unashamedly ambitious – 'we will get to the Prem, it is just a question of when, not if', says Wagner, who believes their future lies in the top half of the top division – and may prove astute businessmen if their sense that a club from the Second City has untapped potential is justified. Perhaps, too, they will crack the American television market. Built in Birmingham feels modelled on Welcome to Wrexham (what next? Come to Colchester? Constructed in Chesterfield? Created in Crewe?). But it offers too little even to Birmingham fans (besides those in it, who provide the self-deprecating humour). They are trying to mine a formula, but it is a dumbing down of the League One season, with the other 22 clubs obscured and two highlighted. They are at pains to draw distinctions between Birmingham and Wrexham, but not Wigan or Wycombe. Only two league games attract more than a cursory mention: long segments on the two meetings with Wrexham. 'Wrexham, we're coming for your ass,' says Brady, in an outbreak of frat-boy nonsense. The Birmingham fans are at least sharper. 'You can stick your f***ing Deadpool up your arse,' they chant. Their special guest, David Beckham, has to explain a chorus about sheepshaggers to Brady. His visit is instructive. Wagner wants to give Beckham a Birmingham swag bag, presumably thinking the very rich need more free stuff. Brady is uneasy talking to English people, apart from Beckham, and much more relaxed around Americans. His reference points are all American, sending manager Chris Davies a video about transformational leadership from a college football coach. He perks up when talking about his NFL career; when there is more footage of Brady's touchdown passes than Birmingham's passing, it feels clear who the designed audience is. Perhaps they want non-stop Brady but the wit and the best one-liners come from the Birmingham fans, whereas the serial Super Bowl winner's management-speak musings on leadership may work on the US corporate circuit but, no matter how often Wagner says they are invaluable, feel bland. They certainly don't spare Birmingham the drop in 2024. Brady's one footballing opinion of note concerns Wayne Rooney. 'I am a little worried about our head coach's work ethic,' he said. 'I don't have great instincts on that.' But there isn't a proper examination of Wagner's decision to fire Eustace and appoint the former England captain. The verdict from one of the fans was blunt: 'What qualifies Wayne to manage Birmingham City? Absolutely nothing.' If only he had been on the interview panel; Wagner and co fared better, in fairness, in plumping for the lower-profile Davies last summer. Rooney comes and goes in 15 minutes of the first episode. Others feature still less. Three of the five men to manage Birmingham in 2023-24 go unmentioned; Tony Mowbray was diagnosed with bowel cancer, his enforced absence a reason for their relegation, and yet, somehow, the producers made an episode without a reference to him. Brady blames the players, whom he calls lazy and entitled, for the club's demotion. There is a clearout and thereafter Birmingham succeed, in their own minds, by implementing a new culture. 'Getting promoted is an amazing accomplishment,' said Wagner. 'I love that everyone doubted we would do it.' Really? Birmingham were the bookmakers' favourites after a £30m outlay. Spending a record amount of money for a third-tier club may have played its part. They get 111 points and, to Brady's delight, finish above Wrexham. Which, it would seem, is their hope for the ratings. This is a battle of the documentaries, a fight for new American followers. And yet it is also an indication of one of the many things that are wrong with the game when historic clubs are defined by producing airbrushed content for streaming in the United States in attempts to expand their fanbase. Because there are plenty of good reasons to support Birmingham, but this show isn't one of them.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brady queries Rooney's 'work ethic' at Birmingham
NFL legend Tom Brady has questioned Wayne Rooney's attitude during the ex-England captain's tenure as manager of Birmingham City, where Brady is a minority owner. In a new Amazon Prime documentary series, due to air on Friday, seven-time Super Bowl winner Brady tells colleagues: "I'm a little worried about our head coach's work ethic," before adding: "I mean, I don't know, I don't have great instincts on that." Brady, who also calls Blues players "lazy and entitled" in the series, made his comments about Rooney following a visit to the club's training ground in November 2023. Filmed conversations between the former quarterback and then manager Rooney appear awkward. In one exchange, the ex-Everton and Manchester United striker tells his employer about some of the cultural problems he perceives at the club. "Why they're playing in the Championship and not the Premier League," Rooney says, "is because... we've all passed a ball, kicked the ball and run, but it's a focus, concentrated for 90 minutes." In scenes that follow, Brady is filmed watching a training session, saying: "We've got a long road ahead." The retired quarterback - widely considered the best player in NFL history - became a minority owner in the club in August 2023, following a takeover the previous month by Knighthead Capital Management LLC, co-founded by financier Tom Wagner. The club were relegated to League One in the first year under their new ownership after going through seven managers in 10 months. Two months after Brady arrived in 2023, manager John Eustace was controversially replaced by Rooney, with the Blues sitting sixth in the Championship. However, with the club then plummeting to 20th in the table, Rooney only lasted 83 days in charge at St Andrew's. At the time, Rooney said that he did not feel 13 weeks was "sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed". During the series, Blues fan Paul Collins speculates that the appointment had been based on a desire by the ownership to hire "one of the most recognisable English footballers of the last generation" in order to "put a load of eyes on Birmingham City". Collins asks: "What qualifies Wayne to manage Birmingham City? Nothing." Brady also reflects on the owners' disastrous first season in charge. "There was some good advice that I got that was like, 'listen, don't go in there and make these big, sweeping changes - you guys have time'," he said. "And of course we make sweeping changes." Relegated players 'lazy and entitled' - Brady Relegation from the Championship at the end of 2023-24 meant Birmingham dropped out of English football's top two tiers for only the third time in their history. During the series, Brady reflects on where things went wrong, blaming the players. "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," he says. "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." That summer, the club invested £30m in transfers, an unprecedented figure for League One. The following year, Birmingham broke the Football League record for most points in a season, finishing top of League One with a tally of 111. Brady struggles to find the Blues' training ground During one scene, on his way to visit Birmingham's training ground, Brady's manager Ben Rawitz jokes about the NFL legend struggling to locate the club's Elite Performance and Innovation Centre on a map. "That's the owner right there, he doesn't know where his training facility is," Rawitz says, later comparing the facilities to a "high school". In another scene, during a separate visit to the city, Brady asks a colleague "What's the other team here?", following up by asking "is Aston Villa in the Premier League?". Ambition 'bigger' than Wrexham's - Wagner There are comparisons throughout the series to fellow Championship club Wrexham, who have enjoyed three consecutive promotions since the Welsh club's £2m takeover in February 2021 by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Wagner dismisses the idea that the two clubs should be considered in the same bracket. "They've done a spectacular job at bringing attention to a small club," he says. "I think what we have here is a club that's already a very big club and so, from our perspective, it's a bit different. The ambitions for us in the context of what we'll build is bigger than what they'll do at Wrexham." In a separate scene, he says: "Our target's not Wrexham. Our target is to play Premier League football against Villa." Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast Get football news sent straight to your phone
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Brady queries Rooney's 'work ethic' at Birmingham
NFL legend Tom Brady has questioned Wayne Rooney's attitude during the ex-England captain's tenure as manager of Birmingham City, where Brady is a minority a new Amazon Prime documentary series, due to air on Friday, seven-time Super Bowl winner Brady tells colleagues: "I'm a little worried about our head coach's work ethic," before adding: "I mean, I don't know, I don't have great instincts on that."Brady, who also calls Blues players "lazy and entitled" in the series, made his comments about Rooney following a visit to the club's training ground in November conversations between the former quarterback and then manager Rooney appear awkward. In one exchange, the ex-Everton and Manchester United striker tells his employer about some of the cultural problems he perceives at the club."Why they're playing in the Championship and not the Premier League," Rooney says, "is because... we've all passed a ball, kicked the ball and run, but it's a focus, concentrated for 90 minutes."In scenes that follow, Brady is filmed watching a training session, saying: "We've got a long road ahead."The retired quarterback - widely considered the best player in NFL history - became a minority owner in the club in August 2023, following a takeover the previous month by Knighthead Capital Management LLC, co-founded by financier Tom club were relegated to League One in the first year under their new ownership after going through seven managers in 10 months after Brady arrived in 2023, manager John Eustace was controversially replaced by Rooney, with the Blues sitting sixth in the Championship. However, with the club then plummeting to 20th in the table, Rooney only lasted 83 days in charge at St Andrew's. At the time, Rooney said that he did not feel 13 weeks was "sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed". During the series, Blues fan Paul Collins speculates that the appointment had been based on a desire by the ownership to hire "one of the most recognisable English footballers of the last generation" in order to "put a load of eyes on Birmingham City".Collins asks: "What qualifies Wayne to manage Birmingham City? Nothing."Brady also reflects on the owners' disastrous first season in charge."There was some good advice that I got that was like, 'listen, don't go in there and make these big, sweeping changes - you guys have time'," he said."And of course we make sweeping changes." Relegated players 'lazy and entitled' - Brady Relegation from the Championship at the end of 2023-24 meant Birmingham dropped out of English football's top two tiers for only the third time in their the series, Brady reflects on where things went wrong, blaming the players."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," he says. "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."That summer, the club invested £30m in transfers, an unprecedented figure for League following year, Birmingham broke the Football League record for most points in a season, finishing top of League One with a tally of 111. Brady struggles to find the Blues' training ground During one scene, on his way to visit Birmingham's training ground, Brady's manager Ben Rawitz jokes about the NFL legend struggling to locate the club's Elite Performance and Innovation Centre on a map."That's the owner right there, he doesn't know where his training facility is," Rawitz says, later comparing the facilities to a "high school".In another scene, during a separate visit to the city, Brady asks a colleague "What's the other team here?", following up by asking "is Aston Villa in the Premier League?". Ambition 'bigger' than Wrexham's - Wagner There are comparisons throughout the series to fellow Championship club Wrexham, who have enjoyed three consecutive promotions since the Welsh club's £2m takeover in February 2021 by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob dismisses the idea that the two clubs should be considered in the same bracket."They've done a spectacular job at bringing attention to a small club," he says."I think what we have here is a club that's already a very big club and so, from our perspective, it's a bit different. The ambitions for us in the context of what we'll build is bigger than what they'll do at Wrexham."In a separate scene, he says: "Our target's not Wrexham. Our target is to play Premier League football against Villa."
BBC News
19-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Birmingham Sports Quarter - what you need to know
Plans for a new Sports Quarter in Birmingham are moving forward, with billions of pounds earmarked for the project and excitement growing in the city. The project is being led by the US owners of Birmingham City Football Club (BCFC) and at the heart of the plans is its new 62,000-seat Tom Wagner, co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management, says the benefits will be felt far beyond Blues fans, with transport links transformed, thousands of jobs created and a super stadium to hold world-class City Council has stated the quarter would be a "sporting centre of excellence". Here we explore where the Sports Quarter will be, what will be in it and when it might become a reality. What will be in the Sports Quarter? Wagner told BBC Sport in June his vision was to create "an entertainment venue unlike many others in the world". The plans include a 62,000-seat stadium, more than double the capacity of the current Blues ground. Wagner said it would also include a 15,000 to 20,000-seat arena and a show pitch."The goal will be to host a whole range of international events not solely in football but [including] American football and rugby," he said. Birmingham City FC has said the multi-use stadium will include a retractable pitch to allow for concerts and other non-sporting events to take will build a training complex for their professional senior teams and academies, and the site is set to also include community pitches, retail and education. "There will be provision for housing and hotels, recreational facilities and plenty of green space," the club said. Wagner told the BBC it was a "unique opportunity"."If you were to look across western Europe, you would be hard-pressed to find another city with that much land available within walking distance of the city centre, where a project of this magnitude can be created and done so in an economically viable way," he said. Alongside these plans, Wagner and his team have strong ambitions for the Blues, who were promoted from League One last season with a record 108-point haul. Where will the Sports Quarter be? When Knighthead bought Blues in July 2023, they told fans they believed the club's potential was "unlimited".Less than a year later, in April 2024, they completed the purchase of the 48-acre former Birmingham Wheels motorsport site in Bordesley, less than a mile away from St Andrews, the club's home since Wheels closed in 2021, after 40 years of hosting go-karting, stock car racing and skating events, and was once the home of the Birmingham Brummies speedway team. The city council-owned site had long been touted as a potential development site for Birmingham City, and its future had been hanging in the balance for some than £17m of the government's Levelling Up Fund was allocated to it for remediation site off Adderley Road is in a key - but deprived - location, ripe for redevelopment. It is less than a mile from the city centre, just off the ring road and close to Adderley Park railway has said the site was "not serving the local community" despite being surrounded by hundreds of homes. How will transport links be transformed? The project really gained momentum last month, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited St Andrews and announced a £2.4bn investment in West Midlands transport links, with the Sports Quarter at the heart of the masterplan. A planned extension of the Midland Metro would mean a direct tram route to the Sports the East Birmingham Metro to North Solihull Metro Extension, it will take people from the Eastside area of the city and serve the likes of Millennium Point, Birmingham City University, the Curzon Street HS2 station and Digbeth. Digbeth is home to the Digbeth Loc. Studios, set up by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, and construction is under way for the BBC's new Tea Factory base. Longer term, this tram line is planned to take passengers to North Solihull - including to Birmingham Airport, the NEC and the HS2 Interchange. How will the community benefit from a Sports Quarter? The government has estimated the project would transform the Bordesley area of Birmingham, creating 8,400 new jobs and driving further investment from private firms. Wagner is expected to invest up to £ Richard Parker told BBC WM presenter Ed James many of the jobs were expected to be the first jobs of young people from the surrounding communities. starting out in employment. He explained this was "really important because this part of the city is one of the most deprived", and he and Wagner hoped to open up job opportunities for young Blues chairman has said the club had a proud history of giving back to the local community and the project would deliver opportunities "and prosperity lasting generations in one of the poorest parts of the whole of the country". "And that's something in which we should all be very proud," he added. Who is behind the project? In June 2023, the English Football League approved US-based Shelby Companies Ltd's takeover of Birmingham Companies is a subsidiary of Knighthead, which was co-founded by Tom Wagner and Ara Cohen in 2008. Wagner told Blues supporters in an open letter that Knighthead's expertise was in "turning around and transforming organisations that are experiencing difficulties". He wants fans to be involved in the journey. Parker said Wagner had been looking to get a foothold in the sports industry in the UK and "had made his money by investing in what have been unloved and neglected" assets, adding, "Let's be frank, the football club had been for a number of decades." Excitement grew when Tom Brady, the NFL quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl winner, became a minority owner of the Championship club months after retiring in 2023. Wagner said Brady was investing and "committing his time and extensive expertise". When will the Sports Quarter become a reality? Wagner told BBC Sport they expected the club to be using its new stadium in the 2030/31 season, which was the timeline that looked "most achievable at present". Certainly, the government investment was a turning point when many started to believe the Sports Quarter would become a O'Neill and his son Matt, who co-host the BCFC Royal Blue podcast, told followers it was a "huge" day for the club which would sway "even the most sceptical fan" who had not dared to believe it would said the proposal was initially "laughed at" by some people on social media and attracted lots of comments from other fan bases but now felt real."This just feels like something special," he said. The Midland Metro Alliance said initial development for the East Birmingham to Solihull link was under way by Transport for West Midlands. "As with other new light rail schemes, the extension will require a Transport and Works Act Order application to be submitted, providing the powers to construct, maintain and operate the tramway" on that route. Richard Parker said the owners were aiming to secure outline planning permission soon and after that were looking to make "real progress" with the stadium by 2028/ also told the BBC a task force was put together to drive the Sports Quarter project and help the key stakeholders work together with clarity about their objectives. "The pace of this is phenomenal," he said, adding the sense of ambition shown by Wagner, Steven Knight and others committed to the city had "captured the imagination, not just of people in this region, but of government too". Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
