Wayne Rooney escalates Tom Brady row and hits back at ‘unfair’ criticism of work ethic
Wayne Rooney has broken his silence on the scathing criticism levelled at him by Tom Brady during his short-lived spell as Birmingham City manager.
Wayne Rooney has criticised Tom Brady over "unfair" remarks about his commitment during his ill-fated tenure as Birmingham City boss. The former Manchester United star had a brief stint with the Championship club in the 2023/24 campaign. His reign lasted only 15 games before being dismissed by the American ownership group.
Even before his departure, part-owner Brady had delivered some pointed criticism. In the Amazon Prime series Brady & The Blues: Birmingham City, the NFL legend was shown telling his business manager Ben Rawitz: "I'm a little worried about our head coach's work ethic." Rawitz replied: "Comes across as lackadaisical." This week, Rooney addressed those comments publicly for the first time. Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, he said: "I think it was a very unfair comment. When I went into Birmingham, they were in a mess really. Hence the fact that, the players weren't really the players who could take the club forward.
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"We knew that and I think, Tom come in once which was the day before a game where the day is a little bit light anyway and I don't think he really understood football that well at the time, maybe he does now…
"But what he does understand is, he's a hard worker, we know that, so that's why I'm really disappointed with the comment because football is not NFL - NFL works for 3 months a year, players do need rest as well, so I think he was very unfair the way he's come out and portrayed that.
"Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively, 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.
"I think what they have done is got the players out they need to get out because when I was there, you had Tony Mowbray, Gary Rowett after me who also struggled as well… but yeah, bit disappointed but nothing too serious, so move on."
After Rooney's exit, Birmingham dropped into League One but immediately secured promotion under Chris Davies. Since then, Rooney's own managerial fortunes have faltered, following another early dismissal from Plymouth Argyle after just 25 matches. He has yet to return to management, with a punditry career on the cards after agreeing to join Match of the Day.
Birmingham, meanwhile, began their 2025/26 Championship campaign with a 1-1 draw against Ipswich, who were relegated from the Premier League last season. On Wednesday, they registered their first win of the season by knocking Sheffield United out of the Carabao Cup, winning 2-1.
