Wayne Rooney said Tom Brady does not understand football after the Birmingham co-owner questioned the former Manchester United player’s work ethic.
Following the release of an Amazon series on the club, it was revealed that Brady questioned whether Rooney had the right work ethic during the latter’s time as manager of the club.
“I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic,” Brady said. “I mean, I don’t know, I don’t have great instincts on that.”
Rooney has since responded, saying the comments were “unfair” and suggesting knowledge of the NFL does not translate to knowledge of football.
“I think it was a very unfair comment,” Rooney told the BBC. “When I went into Birmingham, they were in a mess really,” said Rooney.
“Hence the fact that the players weren’t really the players who could take the club forward.
“I think Tom came in once, which was the day before a game where the days are a little bit lighter anyway, and I don’t think he really understood football that well.
“But what he does understand is, he’s a hard worker, we know that.
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“Football is not NFL – NFL works for three months a year. Players do need rest as well, so I think he’s very unfair, the way he’s come out and portrayed that.”
Rooney did not want to critique Brady too much, saying he respected him “massively” but pointed to the tenures of Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett as proof that Rooney was not the sole problem.
“Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively,” he continued.
“He’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest athletes of all time and Birmingham do look like they’re getting it right now, which is good and I think what they have done is got the players out that they needed to get out.”
“You had Tony Mowbray, Gary Rowett after me, who also struggled as well. So at this point, not too serious so move on.”
Rooney was appointed on 11 October 2023, taking over a team sitting 6th in the Championship under John Eustace but two wins in his 15 games saw him sacked just 83 days into a three-year deal.
Under Rooney, the club’s points per game dropped from 1.24 to 0.67 and they were duly relegated to League One, their first time in the third division since 1995.
Brady also questioned the players of the time, saying they were “lazy” and “entitled”.
“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 said.
“They were lazy, they were entitled and when you’re lazy and entitled, you don’t have much of a chance to succeed.”
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