NFL legend Tom Brady has been accused of showing a lack of class after he was seen questioning Wayne Rooney’s work ethic in the new Birmingham documentary.
The five-part docuseries Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues goes behind the scenes at the club, following players, staff and key ownership figures, including Brady.
A clip from the show has gone viral on social media in which Brady can be seen questioning Rooney’s approach during his disastrous spell at St Andrews.
Rooney was sacked in January of last year after just 15 matches in charge of the club, who went on to suffer relegation that season.
The fly-on-the-wall documentary was released on Friday and showed Brady visiting the Birmingham training ground to observe Rooney’s team meeting and training session.
While driving away, he tells his business manager Ben Rawitz: ‘I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.’ Rawitz replied: ‘Comes across as lackadaisical.’
Tom Brady (right) questioned Wayne Rooney’s work ethic during his time at Birmingham
And this hasn’t gone down particularly well with football fans in Rooney’s country.
‘To say that about the Tom Brady of English football is crazy,’ wrote one on X while another said ‘zero class from Brady.’
One posted that ‘it’s the Tom Brady show, shame he has no class and no idea of the game’ as another said ‘Tom should have some class.’
Another added: ‘Rich coming from someone who has no idea about the game, slandering a legendary player on camera is as low as it gets. Rooney might not be a good manager (tactically) maybe, but someone who is new to the entire sport and being judgmental wow, I think he should manage that team himself!
Rooney began in management immediately after his playing days were over, hanging up his boots while playing in the Championship for Derby to take the reins at Pride Park.
Manchester United’s all-time leading scorer received plaudits for the work he did in extremely challenging circumstances, with the club struggling to compete amid their mountain of financial issues.
The 39-year-old then made the surprise move to MLS and coached another of his former sides, DC United. But he lasted just 12 months Stateside – half the time he spent in charge of the Rams – as interest in his services came from the newly minted Blues.
Birmingham – backed by the riches of Knighthead Capital and boasting Brady as an investor – replaced the beloved John Eustace with the former England hero, even though the club was pushing for a play-off spot.
Rather predictably, this proved to be a massive mistake.
The documentary also sees Brady admit his error in replacing Eustace with the former England international and reveal that he was warned against making ‘sweeping changes’ so early in his time with the club.
‘I had good advice, “Don’t go in there and make sweeping changes. You guys have time”,’ said Brady. ‘But we made sweeping changes that put us in decline. That was our doing.’
The former quarterback, famed for putting his American football career above all else in his life, did not spare Birmingham’s players from his wrath as they suffered relegation from the Championship in Knighthead Capital’s first season in the Midlands.
‘We were trying to make Birmingham a world-class team – but it’s been a s*** year,’ added Brady. ‘They were lazy and entitled, which doesn’t give you much chance to succeed.’
Following his miserable Birmingham experience, Rooney threw himself into another managerial gig, this time with struggling second-tier outfit Plymouth Argyle.
He fared slightly better on the south coast but that only proves to reinforce how bad his time in the west Midlands was. Rooney managed five wins in 25 matches and all but condemned the Pilgrims to relegation last season.
After his St Andrews exit in 2024, Rooney put forward a reason for his poor managerial record, highlighting just how little time he had in the hotseat.
‘Football is a results business – and I recognise they have not been at the level I wanted them to be,’ he wrote in a statement.
‘However, time is the most precious commodity a manager requires and I do not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed.’
