Tom Brady retired as a professional athlete after 23 seasons in the NFL. The GOAT didn’t have the strongest arm or the natural athletic gifts; he wasn’t known for his speed or flash. What set him apart was his relentless work ethic, grit, determination, and football intelligence. His success was built on effort and sacrifice, not raw talent. So, if anyone can sense when someone isn’t putting in the work, it’s Brady.
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That’s why, when he picked up on those vibes from then-Birmingham City manager Wayne Rooney, he didn’t hold back. Brady openly questioned Rooney’s commitment and work ethic.
In the new documentary *Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues*, directed by Gotham Chopra, behind-the-scenes footage captures TB12 expressing his concerns without filters.
“I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic. I mean, I don’t know, I don’t have great instincts on that.”
Many soccer fans weren’t happy with the seven-time Super Bowl champion disrespecting a soccer icon like Wayne Rooney. They accused Tom Brady of showing zero class. But Brady didn’t stop there. He also questioned the work ethic of some Birmingham City players from the 2023–24 season, calling them “lazy and entitled.”
The board fired Rooney just 83 days into his tenure after Birmingham managed only two wins in 15 matches, plummeting from sixth to 20th in the table during his time in charge.
Amid the backlash, the host of the “Men In Blazers” podcast asked Brady to clarify his remarks and the lessons he learned from hiring Rooney. The three-time NFL MVP didn’t shy away from the criticism.
” Our first season was a bit of a challenge and I think we have to take ownership of every decision that was made. We made the decision at the time but we learned from it and we moved on. Every year you’re continuing to learn and usually when you make decisions, you always feel like you are making right decisions. I think it’s really important in the decision making process when you realize, okay we need to make a change based on production. We did it. Unfortuntely, we got relegated our first year.”
He took ownership of the decision to hire Rooney, admitting that while he and the club’s leadership, including Tom Wagner, believed they were making the right call, it ultimately backfired. Still, Brady said it taught them a valuable lesson.
That lesson came at a steep price. Birmingham found themselves relegated to League One at the end of the season. Fortunately, the club bounced back immediately under new manager Chris Davies, earning promotion back to the Championship after just one year in the third tier of English football.
Brady spoke highly of the decision to hire Davies, calling it a reflection of the values and long-term vision he and Wagner have for Birmingham City. Unlike the Rooney hiring, Brady said they didn’t make this one on a whim.
They thoroughly vetted Davies before handing him the reins. So far, that decision has paid off, and as Birmingham prepares for its return to the Championship, Brady and the ownership group have high expectations for a manager they believe has been “phenomenal.”
Birmingham City will kick off their new campaign on August 8th with two clear goals: avoid another relegation scare and push for promotion to the Premier League. The club hasn’t featured in the top flight of English football since the 2010–11 season, and they’ll be eager to end that long absence.
Speaking of promotion and relegation, the system isn’t unique to just a few leagues; it’s the norm across most of the sporting world. However, it remains completely foreign to the United States. So, when Tom Brady saw the club he invested in, Birmingham City, suffer relegation, it must have been a jarring experience, especially for someone coming from the NFL, where such a scenario is unimaginable.
In American sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL, no matter how poorly a team performs, there’s no threat of being dropped to a lower division. That kind of safety net simply doesn’t exist in global football. But the real question is: should it?
Brady loves the idea of relegation for American Sports
The concept of promotion and relegation is foreign to American professional sports. With so much money on the line, the idea seems almost inconceivable. However, after experiencing the system firsthand in English football, Tom Brady has grown to appreciate it. He believes relegation brings a unique sense of accountability and meritocracy, something he feels American sports could benefit from, though he admits implementing it would be incredibly difficult.
According to Brady, a system where teams must earn their place at the top would incentivize players, coaches, and organizations to consistently perform at a high level. There’s a tangible reward for success and a real consequence for failure, which drives competitiveness.
” It would be very different in America and not saying it couldn’t work. I actually love the releagtion system in football. I think it creates great accountability for the clubs.”
But the challenges of introducing relegation in leagues like the NFL are significant. For starters, there simply aren’t enough teams to support a tiered system. Moreover, unlike many European soccer clubs that emerged from grassroots efforts and carry rich, historic identities, American teams are franchises. These franchises are owned entities that can be relocated at the owner’s discretion, as seen with teams like the Rams and Raiders.
The NFL also operates on a revenue-sharing model and enforces salary caps to maintain competitive balance and ensure financial stability across all franchises. Introducing relegation could disrupt that balance and drastically reduce the value of lower-tier teams, potentially making them financially unsustainable.
