Tom Brady slams Wayne Rooney and Birmingham players for ‘lack of committment’ during relegation campaign

Birmingham City co-owner Tom Brady has openly questioned the commitment of former manager Wayne Rooney and labelled some players from the 2023-24 squad as “lazy and entitled” in a new documentary.

The NFL legend, who became a minority stakeholder in the club in August 2023 following Knighthead Capital Management and Tom Wagner’s takeover, made the comments in an Amazon Prime series released Friday, which charts Birmingham’s immediate return to the Championship.

“I’m a little worried about our head coach’s [Rooney’s] work ethic,” Brady said in the film. “I mean, I don’t know, I don’t have great instincts on that.”

Rooney was hired two months after the club changed ownership but lasted just 83 days in the job as Birmingham were relegated to League One at the end of that season.

Speaking after the drop, Brady added: “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.

“They were lazy, they were entitled and when you’re lazy and entitled, you don’t have much of a chance to succeed.

“We’ve got to change all the people that are associated with losing, so I think this summer there’s going to be a lot of people gone.”

After relegation, Birmingham spent heavily – breaking the League One transfer record – and stormed to promotion at the first attempt, collecting an English Football League record 111 points.

Their preparations for life back in the Championship have already seen six permanent signings, including former Premier League champion Demarai Gray and striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who joined from Rennes for €9m ($10m).

Birmingham open the 2025–26 season at St Andrew’s against Ipswich Town on August 8.

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