Tom Brady, one of the most competitive individuals to ever step onto the gridiron, was a downright maniac about winning during his career. And while he’s cooled off a bit since retiring from the NFL, Brady is 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 minority owner of Birmingham City, who were recently promoted to the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.
Rooney served as manager for the club (essentially head coach) from late 2023 to early 2024. He was, however, sacked after just 15 games, winning only two of them. Birmingham was relegated to the third tier of English football at the end of that season.
A docuseries about Brady and Birmingham during that 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, 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,” he penned.
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 added.
Brady wasn’t just talking about Rooney. But it’s clear this mindset played a role in the NFL legend approving Rooney’s 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,” he added.
Brady’s not apologizing for taking shots at a soccer 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 back to the Championship for the upcoming season. If they earn promotion again, they will reach the pinnacle: The Premier League.
Rooney, meanwhile, took a job with Plymouth Argyle of League One a few months after his dismissal. He did not last long there either, receiving the boot after just 25 games in charge. Rooney may be England’s all-time greatest striker and goal scorer, but he has struggled as a manager.
Ironically, many of his former teammates on those dominant Manchester United teams of the 2000s have also struggled as managers while they all succeeded wildly as players.
