مدير عام كرة القدم
- Ex-England captain flopped at St Andrew’s
- Questions asked of his methods
- Blues back in the Championship for 2025-26
The Blues appointed Manchester United legend Rooney as their new manager in October 2023. A disastrous reign at St Andrew’s for the former England captain saw him take in just 15 games at the helm – winning only two.
Birmingham tumbled into the Championship relegation zone during that forgettable tenure, which was brought to a close after just 83 days. Seven-time Super Bowl winner Brady quickly determined that Rooney was not the right man for the job.
After visiting the training ground, allowing him to watch a session and team meeting, Brady was caught on camera for the ‘Built in Birmingham: Brady u0026amp; the Blues’ documentary saying: “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.” Business manager Ben Rawitz responded with: “Comes across as lackadaisical.”n
Brady is also seen offering advice to Rooney, with it suggested that players need to be pushed harder. He said: “What’s the difference between football (American) and soccer? Nothing. I treated practice like it was the Super Bowl. Put pressure on them, make them run for everything.”
NFL GOAT Brady concedes that replacing John Eustace with Rooney was a mistake, going on to say of a humbling period for the Blues that ended in relegation: “I had good advice, ‘Don’t go in there and make sweeping changes. You guys have time.’ But we made sweeping changes that put us in decline. That was our doing.n
“We were trying to make Birmingham a world-class team – but it’s been a sh*t year. They were lazy and entitled, which doesn’t give you much chance to succeed.”
Birmingham bounced back in style during the 2024-25 campaign, following a summer of record-breaking spending in the transfer market, with Chris Davies guiding the Blues to the League One title with 111 points.
