FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Everton v Southampton - Goodison Park, Liverpool, Britain - May 18, 2025 Former player Wayne Rooney on the pitch during a commemorative ceremony after the last match for the men's team at Goodison Park Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo
(Reuters) -Wayne Rooney has hit back at Tom Brady after the NFL great questioned his work ethic during his brief managerial spell at second-tier English club Birmingham City, saying the criticism was "very unfair".
Former New England Patriots quarterback Brady, minority owner of Birmingham, in an Amazon Prime documentary series titled, 'Built In Birmingham: Brady & The Blues', had said he was a little worried about Rooney's work ethic.
Ex-Manchester United and England forward Rooney, 39, was dismissed as the manager of Birmingham in January last year after less than three months in the role, following a winless run that left the club hovering above the relegation zone.
"I think Tom came in once, which was the day before a game where the days are a little bit lighter anyway, and I don't think he really understood football that well," Rooney said on the Wayne Rooney Show podcast.
"But what he does understand is, he's a hard worker, we know that."
"Football is not NFL – NFL works for three months a year. Players do need rest as well, so I think he's very unfair, the way he's come out and portrayed that."
Seven-times Super Bowl champion Brady became a minority owner in Birmingham in August 2023.
"Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively," Rooney said.
"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."
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
