Just 15 games and 83 days after being hired as Birmingham City FC's manager, English football (soccer) legend Wayne Rooney has now been sacked — by Tom Brady.
Birmingham City is a professional soccer club based in Birmingham, England. It currently plays in the English Football League Championship (England's second tier of soccer, after the Premier League) and is owned in part by NFL legend Brady. The decision to fire Rooney comes after a brutal start to his managerial tenure, winning just two of the 15 matches Birmingham City played while Rooney was in charge. That plummeted the club from sixth to 20th in the EFL Championship standings.
In a statement released on X Tuesday morning, Rooney addressed his dismissal by saying, "I would like to thank Tom Wagner, Tom Brady and Garry Cook for the opportunity to manage Birmingham City FC and the support they all gave me during my short period with the club. Football is a results business — and I recognize they have not been at the level I wanted them to be."
— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) January 2, 2024
Hiring Rooney — who coached at DC United of Major League Soccer for just over a year before joining Birmingham City — proved to be a disastrous decision for Brady and the rest of his ownership group. Birmingham City's CEO Garry Cook echoed that point in a statement Tuesday morning on the dismissal of the former Manchester United and England National Team legend.
"We are committed to doing what is necessary to bring success to St. Andrew's," Cook said. "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."
While it's unknown whom Brady and company will target to replace Rooney as Birmingham City's manager, it's crucial that they get their next hire right. Birmingham City is currently on the edge of relegation; and if it continues the downward spiral that the Rooney era started, it'll find itself playing in League One — the third tier of English soccer — next season.
Considering what Brady said in his Birmingham City ownership announcement about his penchant for winning translating to his new club, it's high time for him to prove that promise.
