How Wayne Rooney has reacted to Tom Brady's dig at ex-Birmingham City boss | OneFootball

Brady was worried by what he saw from the ex-Blues boss when he visited the team back in 2023/24.

Wayne Rooney has responded to comments made by Birmingham City minority owner Tom Brady questioning his work ethic.

Built in Birmingham: Brady & The Blues, the new Amazon Prime docu-series about the club's recent rise and fall in the EFL over the past two seasons, did a lot of work to show exactly the level of involvement that the former NFL quarterback and the chairman, Tom Wagner, have played at the club since their takeover in the summer of 2023.

One segment from it showed Brady visiting Birmingham's training ground to oversee some of how Rooney, the man that the new American owners decided to replace John Eustace with while they were in the play-off spots, prepared his players for an upcoming match.

Upon leaving the ground, Brady said: "I'm a little worried about our head coach's work ethic. I mean, I don't know. I don't have great instincts on that."

Wayne Rooney responds to Tom Brady's work ethic comments

Rooney was eventually sacked at the start of January after leading Blues down a relegation-bound path that they could never get off of. In a clip from his new BBC podcast - The Wayne Rooney Show - the former Manchester United player has responded to Brady's damning comments.

"I've seen that this week or last week from Tom Brady. Yeah, I think it was a very unfair comment," said the 39-year-old.

"I mean, when I went into Birmingham they were in a mess, really, hence the fact that I went in, 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 day is a little bit lighter, and I don't think he understood football that well at the time - maybe he does now," to which his co-host, Kae Kurd, responded: "I don't think he does."

Rooney continued: "But what he does understand is, you know, he's a hard worker - we know that - so that's why I'm really disappointed with the comment, because football is not NFL. The NFL works for three months a year, players do need rest as well.

"So I think he was very unfair, the way he has come out and portrayed that. I respect Tom Brady massively. He's one of the greatest, if not the greatest athlete of all time, and Birmingham do look like they're getting it right now, which is good.

"I think what they have done is got the players out they needed to get out. When I was there, you had Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett after me, who also struggled as well, so... a bit disappointed but [it's] nothing too serious, so move on."

Wayne Rooney decision will always haunt Birmingham's new owners

Rooney's relative lack of managerial experience, and success in the role, when he arrived in Birmingham made his job even harder than it already was. Supporters were baffled by the move at the time, and it's one that the owners have retrospectively admitted was the wrong one.

They wanted a coach who was going to implement a more attacking, modern and entertaining brand of football. The decision they made, to bring Rooney in from MLS side DC United, appeared to be a move made with eyeballs and engagement in mind rather than on-pitch success.