Brady Questions Rooney’s Attitude at Birmingham: “Lazy and Entitled”

Tom Brady Questions Wayne Rooney’s Work Ethic and Criticizes Birmingham City Players

Birmingham City’s minority co-owner, Tom Brady, has voiced his concerns about the work ethic of the team’s former manager, Wayne Rooney, and has criticized some players from the 2023-24 season’s squad, calling them “lazy and entitled.” Brady, seven-time Super Bowl champion, became a minority co-owner of Birmingham in August 2023, following the acquisition of the club by Knighthead Capital Management LLC and American financier Tom Wagner.

I’m a little worried about our coach [Rooney]’s work ethic.

Tom Brady

Rooney was appointed Birmingham manager two months after the acquisition by Knighthead and Brady. His time in charge lasted only 83 days, during which the club was relegated to League One.

After Birmingham’s relegation in his first season with the club, Brady commented:

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 chance of succeeding.

Tom Brady

Furthermore, Brady added that significant changes would be made to the roster. After the relegation in 2024, Birmingham invested a record sum in signings for League One and achieved promotion with a record of 111 points. Birmingham has been active in the transfer market this summer, ahead of their return to the second division of English football, bringing in six players on permanent contracts so far, including former Premier League champion Demarai Gray and former Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi, for 9 million euros (10 million dollars) from Stade Rennais. The team will begin their home season against Ipswich Town on August 8th.