What Tom Brady has taught Birmingham City… and what he thought of Wayne Rooney

New York Times

6 days ago

Tom Brady is a winner. Any of his former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers team-mates, or the fans of teams he dismantled on the way to seven Super Bowl rings during a 22-year NFL career, could tell you that.
To rise from the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft to be considered by many (including The Athletic's team of NFL writers) as the greatest quarterback in the sport's history indicates he's not afraid of a challenge, either. But how much of that journey to the pinnacle of American football could prepare Brady for a non-playing role in the lower divisions of the English soccer?
Advertisement
'What's different between soccer and football?' Brady asks. 'Nothing. Nothing.'
Amazon Prime's Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues, which launches globally on August 1, is executive-produced by Brady himself. It chronicles his first two seasons involved with the ownership of Birmingham City, a club formed back in 1875. Birmingham had been playing in the Championship, English football's second tier, since suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2011.
As much as the show's main narrative arc is Birmingham's prospective return to elite football, with Brady's co-owner and club chairman Tom Wagner admitting their target is 'to play Premier League football against Villa' and 'make some money', it's really about Brady and how he is working to transmit the winning values and practices he developed during his playing career onto a club failing to maximise its potential.
'I'm not in there on an operational role,' he said. 'I'm here in a visionary role.'
If that's the case, Knighthead Capital's first season as the club's controlling shareholders suggests his crystal ball may need polishing. Birmingham started strongly, with three wins and two draws from the opening five matches of 2023-24. They then suffered a wobble, failing to win in their next four. Despite back-to-back victories against Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion that left Birmingham sitting sixth in the table, the final play-off spot, the board sacked head coach John Eustace after 11 games of a 46-game season.
Given that in recent seasons Birmingham had been more accustomed to fighting relegation than competing for promotion, the decision caused a stir. One fan on the documentary suggested Eustace's replacement, England and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney, was appointed 'to put a load of eyes on Birmingham City'. It's not clear how involved Brady was in the decision to fire Eustace, but his first trip to the training ground to watch Rooney in action provides an insight into the mind of this seven-time champion.
Advertisement
When asked what he could offer Birmingham that nobody else could, Brady replied, 'I think there's a feel I have with what I see, what I watch, what I hear, how we're training and preparing and evaluations of our own team,' setting up his day at the club's practice facility, which is clearly in need of repair.
Brady has a tour of the facility before sitting down with Rooney, who tells the American how he would show up to training at 9am during the summer's pre-season preparations. Brady subtly responds by telling Rooney he would get to the team's facility at 6 am. Whether intentional or not, it demonstrates Brady's competitive edge.
'I treated practice like it was the Super Bowl,' he said to Rooney. 'Every day. We would do a two-minute drill at the end of the game, and I would throw a touchdown at practice — I'd be standing there like, 'F***, we've won the game'. Even though it was practice.
'And then my team-mates would be like, 'F***, OK. That's how we're gonna do it'. So then when I got to the pros, everybody would be walking around like 'Hey, you know, it's just practice', and I walked in there and said 'No. F*** this. This is real'. Put the pressure on them. Make 'em learn everything.'
He talks about the ownership's priorities for the club, mentioning 'resilience', 'hard work,' and 'discipline'. As he's leaving the training ground, the camera picks up Brady saying that he is 'a little worried about our head coach's work ethic'. Questioning Rooney's dedication, a global sporting superstar as a player in his own right, and ultimately allowing that to be publicised in the documentary's final edit, is a telling decision. It undoubtedly reflects strongly on his emotional investment in the Birmingham project, but his indifference towards Rooney's prior achievements in assessing his character is unusual from a former athlete, particularly concerning someone as successful in their respective discipline. Rooney's representatives declined to comment when approached by The Athletic for this piece.
Rooney was fired after two wins from 15 matches, and Birmingham were relegated to League One, England's third tier, for the first time since 1994-95. Brady assumed responsibility as part of the ownership team regarding the 'sweeping changes' made early in their first season in charge, but suggested the bulk of the responsibility lies on the players, whom he described as lazy and entitled.
He promised a 'whole different environment when they step in the door for the competition next year', and episodes two, three, four and five detail their dominant run in League One, achieving promotion back to the Championship with a record 111 points at the first time of asking.
The coach who led them there, Chris Davies, is much more to Brady's taste. Like Brady, Davies has had to work hard for his opportunity in management. After being forced to retire as a player at 19 due to an arthritic condition in his foot, he spent 20 years learning and developing as a coach. He was an assistant to Brendan Rodgers and then Ange Postecoglou at Celtic and followed Postecoglou to Tottenham Hotspur in 2023 before earning the head coach's job at Birmingham ahead of the 2024-25 season, with Brady involved in the hiring process.
Advertisement
'He was just everything I imagined he would be,' Davies tells The Athletic of Brady. 'But there were a lot more layers to him beyond the surface. He's got real insight and depth. He cares a lot and listens and tries to give helpful advice. I've really enjoyed getting to know him and he's someone I've listened to and spoke a lot to throughout the season.
'We're lucky to have him. Most people don't get the chance to speak to someone who has been that successful.'
It's apparent Brady and Davies see themselves in each other. When asked to describe Davies in one word, Birmingham's kitman (equipment manager) opted for 'intense'. Davies used 'unrelenting' for Brady. They have a strong bond, and Brady keeps in regular phone contact with the head coach.
'I feel like I have a great kindred spirit, in a way, with Chris,' Brady said. 'He was overlooked for a long time, and he had his own chip on his shoulder. He really was looking for the right opportunity to prove himself — and then he earned it.'
Brady's involvement appeared to escalate last season, with Davies describing him as 'a world-class consultant — one of the greatest athletes of all time — to speak to about situations that we're in'. In one instance, Brady remarks on the junk food players are consuming after the game, suggesting it was like going back 25 years to when he was in high school. Alongside Alex Guerrero, Brady's 'body coach' who is also a shareholder and advisor on performance, nutrition and recovery at Birmingham, the pair are re-shaping the club's approach to conditioning.
'Electrolytes is a big thing. Drinking water is a big thing,' Birmingham player Ethan Laird tells The Athletic. 'I like to annoy Alex, asking him lots of questions. He says water is 70 per cent of your muscles, so if you're not feeding them, they're going to be brittle and tear. I'm a salt sweater, something that was identified in me, so I need to have a lot more electrolytes. The nutritionist gives me things full of salt and I even have salt tablets now. That has stepped up a lot.'
Brady won a Super Bowl aged 43, so few can question his knowledge concerning conditioning. However, England Women, who won the 2022 European Championship powered by post-match pizzas, might point out that soccer players typically cover around 10km in matches (according to the CIES Football Observatory), while NFL players usually clock around 2km. Therefore, their need to refuel on high-calorie, energy-dense foods for recovery is greater.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, Brady's knowledge and expertise helped provide vital boosts throughout the season. During Davies' first poor stretch of results before Christmas 2024, Brady sent him a video of former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban reflecting on how he developed from being a 'transformational' leader rather than a 'transactional' one. Davies used it as inspiration for a team meeting ahead of a game, helping Birmingham emerge from that period as a stronger team unit.
'It was interesting to pick up on these things,' says Davies. '(Saban) is obviously not an ex-football player, as in our football, where we might know the same things and the same people. He's from the U.S. and a different sport. There are new things there.'
If anything is apparent from the documentary, it's that Brady and Wagner's relentless attitude is pushing Birmingham forward from stasis.
'Tommy Wagner has given us something that no person has ever given Birmingham City,' says Paul Collins, a lifelong Birmingham fan. 'And that's belief.'
They spent heavily to bring Jay Stansfield back to St. Andrew's permanently after the forward had an impressive loan spell during their first season in charge. After scoring 19 goals in 37 league matches, he was selected as part of England's Under-21 European Championship-winning team this summer, where he played six times and started in the final. Having lost his father, Adam, to colon cancer when Stansfield was seven, the 22-year-old has had to overcome challenges of his own. He, as well as Laird, who came through the Manchester United academy, are the kind of young, hungry and ambitious players Birmingham are targeting and developing under Knighthead's and Brady's ownership and tutelage.
'It's amazing,' Laird says on Brady's involvement. 'He's the GOAT of NFL. When you have the best around, there's always something to learn. The way they walk. The way they talk. If you want to be the best, they are the things you observe and try to take in. He was a leader— the role of a quarterback is to be a leader and get the troops going. I see the way he speaks to people, and he chooses his words on purpose.
'It's not as if he thinks about it, it's just experience. He knows why he's saying certain words. I get a feeling like, 'No, he's invoked (a feeling) because of the words he's chosen'. He knows how to get people going.'
Advertisement
British football supporters are cynical, and given Birmingham's decade-long stretch in the doldrums, few would excuse them for being tough to win over. But there's a buzz around St Andrews that has not been there in a long time, and having watched Brady, Wagner and Davies' relentless drive to bring success to the club, it's not hard to see why.