Birmingham City: Claim made on "ridiculous" Tom Wagner despite Wayne Rooney "blip" | OneFootball

FLW's Birmingham fan pundit has rated Tom Wagner's ownership of the club out of 10

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Tom Wagner became majority stakeholder of Birmingham City earlier this year after he purchased the remaining 51 percent of the club.

The deal means that the American businessman now owns around 96 percent of the Championship side in total, with former NFL star Tom Brady also a part of the ownership.

The 48-year-old owns a reported 3.3 percent of the Midlands outfit, who are back competing in the second tier again after gaining promotion from League One last season.

Wagner initially earned the ire of supporters with the appointment of Wayne Rooney as manager in October 2023, replacing the popular John Eustace.

But the team’s rise back to this level under Chris Davies, along with big spending in the transfer market and ambitious plans for a 62,000 seater stadium have got a lot of fans back onside.

Birmingham City ownership given outstanding rating

When asked to rate the club’s owners from one to 10, FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit Jason Moore claimed that Wagner has been smashing it since taking over, with the exception of Rooney’s appointment.

He believes that the American deserves a 15 out of 10 rating, if anything, praising him for his ambition, investment into the team and his plans for the new 62,000-seater stadium.

“For Blues it can’t be anything other than a 10,” Moore told Football League World.

“We’re financially stable, they’re making really good revenue so they’re able to spend.

“They’ve got a lot of money and they want to spend it, they want to be successful.

“They’re building us a brand new 62,000 seater stadium, they’re investing in every single aspect of the club.

“They’ve got the charity side of the club, which is investing back into the community side of it in Birmingham.

“Every single measure you can measure a club owner on, they’re absolutely smashing it.

“The only blip they had is hiring Wayne Rooney.

“But you’re bound to make one or two mistakes.

“The fact they want us to be so successful and their ambitions are huge, and they don’t hide away from it.

“They’re ridiculous.

“They’re more than a 10, they’re a 15, that’s how good they are.”

Birmingham have spent heavily since suffering relegation from the Championship in 2024, including breaking the League One transfer record to sign Jay Stansfield.

Wagner’s ambitions include promotion to the Premier League in the near future.

The Blues have not competed in the top flight since 2011, and have not earned a top six finish in the second tier since 2012.

Tom Wagner’s grand ambitions has won over Birmingham fans

It’s not surprising Wagner is popular among supporters as he’s got such grand plans for the club.

However, there should be some wariness over what his ultimate goal is for the club, as he is not pumping this money into the Blues out of the goodness of his own heart.

Getting into the Premier League is a real challenge, and it’s not guaranteed that Birmingham will get there so quickly, nor that they will stay there if they do earn promotion.

The 62,000-seater stadium is also quite a big investment, and filling that as a Championship side will be quite difficult, so that puts a lot of pressure on this investment to be successful in a short span of time.