Tom Brady destroys Wayne Rooney with damning remarks in brutal documentary - The Mirror

Wayne Rooney endured a nightmare spell as Birmingham City manager and a new documentary shows how high-profile part-owner felt about the former England star's tenure

Birmingham City part-owner Tom Brady can be seen casting doubt on Wayne Rooney's abilities during a documentary about the Championship club. Rooney was installed as manager after a high-profile takeover but lasted less than a season, with his successors unable to keep the Blues afloat.

Chris Davies took over as manager in the summer of 2024 and secured an immediate promotion back to the second tier. However, in new footage from the 2023-24 campaign, the club's earlier issues are laid bare.

A new documentary, 'Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues', is due to drop on Amazon Prime on Friday. In addition to a budding rivalry with fellow promotion-chasers Wrexham last season, the documentary features behind-the-scenes footage from the Blues' relegation and subsequent promotion.

“I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic," former NFL star Brady can be heard telling business manager Ben Rawitz after a visit to Birmingham's training ground during Rooney's time in charge. Rawitz, in reply, suggests the boss “Comes across as lackadaisical.”

Brady is also seen speaking to Rooney amid concerns about the squad's efforts, telling the former England striker: “What’s the difference between [American football] and soccer? Nothing. I treated practice like it was the Super Bowl. Put pressure on them, make them run for everything.”

When Rooney took over in October 2023, Birmingham sat fifth in the Championship table. They had dropped down to 20th by the time he was dismissed in January, and ended up going down on the final day despite ending up on 50 points.

“I had good advice, ‘Don’t go in there and make sweeping changes. You guys have time,'" Brady reflected, as reported by The Sun. “But we made sweeping changes that put us in decline. That was our doing.”

Rooney got another opportunity to manage in the Championship last season, taking over at Plymouth Argyle. That too was short-lived, with the 39-year-old sacked in December and Argyle eventually suffering relegation.

Birmingham, meanwhile, thrived under Davies last term. They won League One with a record 111 points, winning 34 of their 46 matches and finishing 19 points clear of runners-up Wrexham.

The club's owners backed Davies in the transfer market, with strikers Jay Stansfield and Alfie May banging in the goals to help the Blues clinch promotion at a canter. May has since moved on, but it has been another busy summer with academy product Demarai Gray returning to St Andrews and former Celtic star Kyogo Furuhashi joining from Rennes.

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