WHY AMERICANS LIKE TOM BRADY JUST CANNOT UNDERSTAND WAYNE ROONEY
Tom Brady questioned the commitment of Wayne Rooney during his spell as manager of Birmingham City, a new documentary has revealed. NFL legend Brady is a minority owner of the club, who appointed Rooney in October 2023, sacking him four months later after just two wins in 15 matches.
In the Prime Video series Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues, Brady is heard saying, “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic,” although does admit, “I don’t have great instincts on that.” The comments follow a trip to the training ground early in Rooney’s reign.
That season ended with relegation to League One, and Brady also criticised the attitude of Birmingham’s players. “They were lazy, they were entitled and when you’re lazy and entitled, you don’t have much of a chance to succeed,” said the former New England Patriots quarterback.
At the time of his sacking, Rooney said he felt the club had acted too hastily. “Time is the most precious commodity a manager requires, and I do not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed.”
He has since managed at Plymouth Argyle, who he left after 25 games last season with the club bottom of the Championship. Birmingham made an immediate return to the Championship in 2024/25, winning League One with a record high points total under the management of Chris Davies.
Review: Tom Brady is gloriously psychopathic at times
Tom Brady, GOATed quarterback of the New England Patriots, is in Birmingham. He is on the advisory board of Knighthead Capital, the American company which owns Birmingham City. Inevitably, there is now a documentary about this.
In episode one of Built in Birmingham: Brady & The Blues, the club has just sacked John Eustace, the over-performing manager who had them sixth in the Championship. We hear Brady saying, “I know what a good coach looks like.” Then, with faultless comic timing, Wayne Rooney arrives.
The American sporting mind cannot compute Wayne Rooney, a brilliant and high-achieving athlete who nevertheless did not maximise his talent. In the American conception, reaching Rooney’s level requires eternal sacrifice and limitless dedication. Perhaps he was appointed by Birmingham with this expectation? Alas when he and Brady meet in the presence of the documentary cameras, the cultural distance is clear.
Brady: “I treated practice...”
Rooney: “Yeah”
Brady: “Like it was the Super Bowl. Every practice we’d do a two minute drill, at the end of the game. I would throw a touchdown, at practice, and stand there being like ‘f---, we won the game!’
Rooney: “Yeah”
Brady: “...even though it was practice. You know, and then my team mates were like ‘f---, that’s how we’re going to do it’… This is real… Make them earn everything.”
Rooney, after a pause: “But no, they’re a good group of lads to be fair.”
Shortly afterwards, we hear Brady confess, “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.”
The most refreshing thing about this five-episode series is how unvarnished it leaves Brady, with no attempt to present him as cuddly. He is gloriously psychopathic at times, as every top-level sportsperson must be, the sort of control freak who has his own phone’s satnav open as he is being chauffeured.
There is a certain level of interest in seeing how he moves through the world, private jets, water bottle the size of the Saturn V rocket which took men to the moon and the best hotel rooms money can buy. In Birmingham. Bullring view or industrial wasteland, sir?
He occasionally speaks like a teenager misbehaving in a Call of Duty chat lobby. “Is Aston Villa in the Prem-eer League?” he asks in the opening minutes. “F--- them.” After Birmingham lose the Vertu (formerly LDV Vans) trophy to Peterborough a cheeky Posh fan posts on City’s Instagram, “put that in your documentary.”
This is relayed to Brady, dressed for the executive box like Patrick Bateman, who says “B-----s, enjoy this s----y League One for the rest of your f---ing life, you little b---ch. Suck on that.”
In the previous episode, we see Brady chucking a ball about with his kids on a Caribbean beach while the team travels to Crawley. After another flawless completion to Brady Jnr, Brady Snr says, “Four from four, my quarterback rating is really high right now.” He seems to be joking, much like Michael Owen was, probably, when he humiliated that poor ginger-haired goalkeeper.
There is humour, especially when Brady bodies a larger member of staff with the greeting “You’re looking fit, did you lose some weight?” and vulnerability too. Preparing for the mandated new owner trip to a fans’ pub, Brady says, “this is not my thing,” and wants to know if he will have to talk to kids or shake any hands.
Tom “Wags” Wagner, Birmingham chairman, is good value too, despite his unfortunate habit of referring to the team as “the product.” He says things like “The Birmingham City opportunity presented itself,” not realising that “The Birmingham City Opportunity” sounds like a gutsy minor league baseball team.
This language at least makes it clear what is going on: Birmingham are a money-making endeavour for their custodians. A confected rivalry with Wrexham, on a similarly lavish trajectory, is stoked by Brady’s trash-talk while Wagner watches and swears amongst fans on the terrace. It serves both reality shows, and therefore both clubs, to wring as much from this narrative as possible.
Birmingham lose and a cameraman is told to “f--- off” by one of their players afterwards but this is the deal City and its employees have made with the devil. It is all fun and games to sit in a well-lit warehouse opining into a camera about standards and journeys. It is less enjoyable when that camera is waiting for you in the dressing room following defeat.
Momentum erodes in the final episode which attempts to find tension in whether injured Jay Stansfield (a £15m signing from Fulham) can be temporarily replaced by Alfie May (27 goals for Charlton in previous season). After the Wembley let-down the only remaining intrigue is whether Birmingham can reach a record points total. They do, finishing on 111. Jolly good.
This is still a more entertaining documentary than its many competitors. Match footage is zippy and un-showy, although a tinnitus beep that soundtracks conceded goals becomes tedious. The Zulu Warriors hooligan firm’s shaky claim as anti-racism pioneers is scrutinised with credible nuance. But mostly, it is fascinating to glimpse the parts of Brady that made him so successful.
Ultimately, the requirement for this documentary is to increase sponsorship revenue. That only happens if it is compelling, a soft-soap clone of similar series would not wash. Authenticity is essential, and Built in Birmingham is so skilfully made you frequently believe that is what you are seeing.
Built In Birmingham: Brady & the Blues, on Prime Video from Friday, August 1
2025-07-31T08:25:42Z