Championship club Birmingham were taken over by Knighthead Capital Management LLC in June 2023, with Brady joining two months later.
In October 2023, with the team sitting sixth in the Championship, the new ownership controversially replaced manager John Eustace with former England captain Rooney.
However, Manchester United’s record goalscorer only lasted 15 matches in the post before being replaced after the team had plummeted to 20th in the table.
Tony Mowbray succeeded Rooney, but stepped aside, initially on sick leave, eight matches into his reign after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. Birmingham, who used seven managers – including caretaker appointments – during the owners’ first 10 months, were relegated to League One at the end of the 2023-24 season.
“When I went into Birmingham, they were in a mess really,” said Rooney.
“Hence the fact that the players weren’t really the players who could take the club forward.
“You had Tony Mowbray, Gary Rowett after me, who also struggled as well.”
In the summer of 2024, with Chris Davies now installed as manager, Birmingham’s new owners invested £30m in transfers, an unprecedented figure for League One.
The club broke the Football League record for most points in a season, finishing top of League One in 2024-25 with a tally of 111.
“Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively,” said Rooney.
“He’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest athletes of all time and Birmingham do look like they’re getting it right now, which is good and I think what they have done is got the players out that they needed to get out.”
In the same documentary in which he queried Rooney’s application, Brady also referred to Birmingham players from that disastrous 2023-24 campaign as “lazy and entitled”.
The first episode of The Wayne Rooney Show will be available from 06:00 BST on Friday 15 August – watch on BBC Sport YouTube, external and iPlayer. Listen on BBC Sounds.
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