Tom Brady questioned Wayne Rooney's 'work ethic' during nightmare Birmingham tenure
NFL legend and Blues minority owner Tom Brady questioned Wayne Rooney’s work ethic during his short-time managing the club.
Rooney was the first head coach appointment of Knighthead Capital following their 2023 takeover but lasted just 83 days before being sacked.
In a new Amazon Prime 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."
Knighthead infamously sacked John Eustace with Blues sitting sixth in the Championship, replacing him with former England captain Rooney in October 2023.
That led to a dramatic drop in form and though Rooney was axed in January 2024, the club was relegated to League One at the end of the season.
In the documentary, Brady takes aim at the players, branding them “lazy and entitled.”
He says: "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.
"They were lazy, they were entitled and when you're lazy and entitled, you don't have much of a chance to succeed.”
Blues promptly spent £30million on transfers that summer and won the League One title with an EFL record 111 points haul.
The documentary, Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues, follows the club’s journey since Knighthead’s takeover, with the relegation and promotion seasons both featured.
There are frequent references to Wrexham, who were promoted from League One along with Blues last season, their third straight promotion since being taken over by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
But Blues chairman Tom Wagner says their long-term goal is to play against Villa in the Premier League.
"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,” he says. “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."
