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What type of sports team owner does Tom Brady want to be? Well, it’s hard to say after Brady said one thing and then did another regarding his stake in English soccer team Birmingham City FC and former star manager Wayne Rooney.
In a recent interview with Front Office Sports, Brady told the site that he hopes to take a more hands-off approach with the teams he partially owns, which include Birmingham City, the Las Vegas Raiders and Las Vegas Aces.
“I feel like I can play a role from 30,000 feet to make sure the players are saying the right thing, the coaches are saying the right thing, the processes for their success are correct,” Brady said. “And I really enjoy that role, and I can play a mentorship role in different ways in a lot of different areas.”
Tom Brady Is Playing A Bigger Role In Birmingham City Than He Led On
Despite saying that he wants to watch the club from a distance and not get involved in day-to-day operations, Brady took a different approach with regards to Rooney and Birmingham.
In a newly released Amazon Prime series, Brady, who took a stake in the club in 2023, questioned Rooney’s attitude amidst a run where the team won just two of 15 matches.
“I’m a little worried about our head coach’s [Rooney’s] work ethic,” Brady said via ESPN. “I mean, I don’t know, I don’t have great instincts on that.”
Earlier in the season, Birmingham sacked manager John Eustace while the club had been in a top-six position in the league. Ownership then brought in Rooney as a signal of ambition, but it went horribly wrong. Within months, Rooney was also sacked Birmingham got relegated to the third tier of English soccer at the end of the season.
“Well we’ve already changed the coach, so it’s really the players because the coach doesn’t go out there and put the ball in the goal,” Brady said following the relegation. “They were lazy, they were entitled and when you’re lazy and entitled, you don’t have much of a chance to succeed.
“We’ve got to change all the people that are associated with losing, so I think this summer there’s going to be a lot of people gone.”
Things went far better for Birmingham in 2024-25.
The club appointed young manager Chris Davies to his first senior role as manager. He led the club to a record 111 points and a first-place finish in the league, earning promotion back to the English Championship.
Who knows how much of a role Brady played in that move? But it’s clear he’s a bit more involved in the club then he initially led on.