Tom Brady calls out Wayne Rooney's coaching job for Birmingham City, says players were 'entitled' and 'lazy'

Birmingham City Football Club minority owner Tom Brady did not mince words about his club's former manager, Wayne Rooney, in an Amazon Prime documentary slated to launch Friday. The series hones in on Birmingham's promotion to the Championship last season and magnifies Brady calling some of the members of Rooney's 2023-24 club "lazy and entitled," while also questioning the former manager's work ethic.

Brady become a minority owner in 2023 and previously served as Birmingham City's chairman of the advisory board, where he worked directly with the club's board members and leadership team.

"I'm a little worried about our head coach's [Rooney's] work ethic," Brady says in the documentary, per ESPN. "I mean, I don't know, I don't have great instincts on that."

Rooney took over as manager of the club eight weeks after Brady bought his minority stake. The former England and Manchester United great signed with the English club only three days after leaving Major League Soccer club D.C. United.

Rooney was axed 2.5 months later after they dropped 12 points off of the sixth and final playoff spot in January 2024.

"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 after Birmingham's relegation under Rooney, via ESPN. "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."

It was a disastrous 16-match run for Rooney, who never turned heads for the new ownership group that included Brady.

"We are committed to doing what is necessary to bring success to St. Andrew's," Chief Executive Officer Garry Cook said in an official statement after Rooney's departure. "Unfortunately, Wayne's time with us did not go as planned and we have decided to move in a different direction. The search for a successor begins with immediate effect and we will update supporters when we have further news."

Rooney thanked Brady and others within the ownership group upon his exit, while acknowledging that "football is a results business -- and I recognize they have not been at the level I wanted them to be."

You can watch Birmingham City in the Championship this season live on Paramount+.