Tom Brady is known as the greatest to ever do it in the NFL. He’s also considered one of the most competitive people to ever step on the gridiron. During his football career, he was a downright maniac about winning. And while he’s cooled off a bit since retiring, he’s still obsessive about success. And to win, you need a proper “culture,” according to Brady.
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The whole “culture” thing seemed to be at the heart of Brady’s sharp comments about his soccer team’s former manager, Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney.
Brady is the owner and chairman of Birmingham City, who were recently promoted to the Championship, the second tier of English football. Rooney served as manager for the club (essentially head coach) from late 2023 to early 2024, but was sacked after just 15 games, winning only two of them.
A docuseries about Brady and Birmingham during that relegation season was released recently, and in it, the former NFL star says that he’s “worried about our head coach’s work ethic.” Clearly, it wasn’t an idle worry, as Brady and company fired Rooney shortly thereafter. In his weekly newsletter this week, Brady doubled down on that point, talking about how important culture and values are to success.
“In my opinion, culture is the product of people and their values. To build a good, positive culture within an organization, you need to bring in the right people who have the right values, which you are trying to align with whatever the purpose and the mission of the group are,” Brady penned.
He wasn’t just talking about Rooney, but it’s clear this mindset played a role in Brady approving his firing last year. A lack of work ethic does not create a good culture. And it’s also an example of a lack of accountability, which Brady talked about extensively as well.
“As one of the leaders on my team, I held myself accountable to do my job in the best possible way. I never wanted to let any of my teammates down. I wanted to be the most prepared I could possibly be. I wanted to acknowledge and accept criticism whenever I made a mistake. What would it say about our culture if the coaching staff couldn’t critique me in meetings when I screwed up?” Brady asked.
“If we were truly going to have a culture of accountability, the coaches needed to be able to coach me and critique my play if it wasn’t up to the standard, just like they would all the way down to the 53rd man on the roster.”
Brady’s clearly not apologizing for taking shots at a figure as respected as Rooney. He just wants to win.
After being relegated to League One (the third level in the English soccer pyramid) following Rooney’s stint as manager, Birmingham City dominated last season to earn promotion right back to the Championship next season. If they earn promotion again, they will reach the pinnacle: the Premier League.
Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, took a job with Plymouth Argyle of League One a few months after his dismissal. He did not last much longer there, receiving the boot after just 25 games in charge. Rooney may be England’s all-time greatest striker and goal scorer, but he has really struggled as a manager.
Ironically, many of his former teammates on those dominant Manchester United teams of the 2000s have also failed as managers where they succeeded wildly as players. Perhaps punditry is in Rooney’s future.
