By: Oluwaseun Lawal

Wayne Rooney isn’t holding back. The former England captain says it was “very unfair” of NFL legend Tom Brady to question his work ethic as Birmingham City’s head coach.

Remember, Rooney was sacked after just 83 days in January 2024. Brady, who became a part-owner of the club in August 2023, made the comments during a documentary about his involvement at St Andrew’s. After visiting the training ground in November 2023, Brady told his colleagues he was “a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.” Ouch.

Rooney fired back on his new podcast, The Wayne Rooney Show, launching Friday. “Tom came in once, the day before a game when training’s lighter anyway,” Rooney said. “I don’t think he really understood football that well. But what he does understand is hard work — we all know that.”

He added, “Football isn’t NFL. NFL’s a three-month season. Players need rest too. So yeah, I think it’s unfair how he’s portrayed me.”

Birmingham’s been through a rollercoaster. Taken over by Knighthead Capital Management in June 2023, with Brady joining two months later, the club replaced John Eustace with Rooney in October 2023. But after just 15 matches and a slide to 20th place, Rooney was out. Tony Mowbray took over but had to step aside due to illness. The club cycled through seven managers in 10 months and ended up relegated to League One.

“When I joined, the club was in a mess,” Rooney admitted. “The players weren’t the ones to push the club forward. Even Mowbray and Rowett struggled.”

Fast forward to summer 2024, new manager Chris Davies took charge, and the owners splashed £30m on transfers — a League One record. The result? Birmingham smashed records with 111 points and topped the league in 2024-25.

Rooney still respects Brady, calling him “one of the greatest athletes of all time.” He’s glad the club seems to be on the right track now. “They’ve got the players out they needed to get rid of.”

But the documentary didn’t just take shots at Rooney. Brady also called the 2023-24 squad “lazy and entitled.” Not exactly kind words.

So yeah, Rooney’s ready to set the record straight — and he’s not shy about it.