TOM BRADY has slammed Wayne Rooney’s work ethic during his time as Birmingham boss.
The England and Manchester United legend is also branded “lackadaisical” in a hard-hitting fly-on-the-wall documentary about the club being released on Friday.
Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues is a five-part series being dropped on Amazon Prime that charts the NFL legend’s part-ownership of the club during the last two seasons.
Brady — who won a record seven Super Bowls — visited their training ground in the first episode to observe Rooney’s team meeting and training session.
And while being driven away, he tells his business manager Ben Rawitz: “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.”
Rawitz replies: “Comes across as lackadaisical.”
Rooney proved a disaster in his time at Birmingham between October 2023 and January 2024.
He was sacked after winning just two of his 15 Championship games in charge which saw the club plummet from sixth to 20th and they never recovered, crashing into League One.
And the 120-cap England hero appears awkward during his exchanges with Brady.
Rooney, at one point, offers to school the NFL powerhouse in the small details of football.
He explains that the reason Birmingham’s players are at Championship level rather than Premier League is not their skill level but lack of focus for 90 minutes.
Brady tells Rooney: “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.”
The series goes on to chart their incredible season last time around which saw them win League One with an EFL-record 111 points under new boss Chris Davies.
But Brady conceded it was a mistake to replace previous boss John Eustace with Rooney within weeks of taking over in August 2023.
The NFL star, who had a 22-year career with New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said: “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.”
Brady also blasted the players — laying the blame at their feet.
He rapped: “We were trying to make Birmingham a world-class team - but it’s been a s**t year. They were lazy and entitled, which doesn’t give you much chance to succeed.”
Rooney went on to manage Plymouth after his Brum axe but lasted just seven months.
He is now set to focus on his punditry work, including a lucrative gig on Match of the Day.
ShaneDoe
0
Manchester United's player-turned coaches never succeed- Nevile and Rooney. They're only good at criticising their arch rival- Liverpool
To be fair, you just wanted to make your comment about Liverpool but the fact of the matter is that they criticize the current United players more than they criticize Liverpool
OverloadElidemaskino
0
Atleast fail but never fail 2 try ,u a failure 2 in som aspects ov life
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀💀💀☠️☠️☠️☠️
fuzbdempt
5
that's why Rooney hates CR7 so much
Widbiltz
0
How many Liverpool Legends are doing so well as Managers?
In this era of football, Xabi Alonso, Dirk Kurt etc They're doing well
Olingo
0
Manchester United's player-turned coaches never succeed- Nevile and Rooney. They're only good at criticising their arch rival- Liverpool
How many Liverpool Legends are doing so well as Managers?
Widbiltz
3
Manchester United's player-turned coaches never succeed- Nevile and Rooney. They're only good at criticising their arch rival- Liverpool
Neadenpstu
0
Rooney only knows one way to teach his teams to go, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN
konbckmpty
0
He ruined us at the time, but ultimately, if we get promoted or stay in the league this season (championship) it would have been worth it
Zezesol400
2
Rooney was such an arrogant, excellent & stubborn player during his prime..now a failure pundit that love to criticize every Coach without checking his coaching badge with his fellow failure coach brother Garry Neville
Atleast fail but never fail 2 try ,u a failure 2 in som aspects ov life
mikekingsley
3
Rooney was such an arrogant, excellent & stubborn player during his prime..now a failure pundit that love to criticize every Coach without checking his coaching badge with his fellow failure coach brother Garry Neville