Tom Brady has been warned that “patience is running thin” at Birmingham after ambitious Premier League claims and a failed Wayne Rooney experiment.
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American football icon is a Blues investorIntention was to push for promotionSecond tier survival battle playing out insteadWHAT HAPPENED?
The NFL legend acquired a stake in the Blues back in August 2023. A play-off push appeared to be on the cards at that point, with Brady said to be “fully involved” in a collective bid to return top-flight football to St Andrew’s.
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Manchester United and England legend Rooney was drafted in as manager to aid that quest, but he was sacked after just 15 games at the helm. Birmingham, who are reportedly exploring exciting new stadium options, are now languishing just one point above the Championship relegation zone with three games left to take in this season.
WHAT DUBLIN SAID ABOUT BRADY
Former Football League star Dion Dublin – who has spent time in the Midlands with Leicester, Aston Villa and Coventry – has told , who offer the latest EFL betting, of owners needing to get things right: “Birmingham fans will love the chat around a new stadium. They'll love the new stadium, but if the here and now is rubbish it might never get to that. If what happens off the pitch is all positive and it's working, it's great, but when it’s not going well on the pitch it doesn't matter. It's got to be right when you go over the white line, so I'd walk before I could run if I was at Birmingham, if I was a fan I’d want them to take it step by step and go from there. They need to get out of the rut they are in because you can tell the fans are a little bit annoyed even though they pick up wins now and then. I think the fans just want a bit of stability. Giving a manager for two or three years and let him try and create something, but the fans will always be there. They'll always fill their stadium because they are so loyal, my best pal is a Blue and he is a bit frustrated at the moment, but under the right system they can turn it around. I don't think the fans get excited by having huge names attached to the club, especially the Blues fans – I think they'll get excited about how Tom Brady treats the club and how he treats the fans because they are a big club, but patience is running thin among fans and whether you're Tom Brady or Tom Smith, they just want to see the club treated right.”
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Dublin added on the Rooney management gamble that backfired spectacularly: “For Wayne Rooney at Birmingham it looks like it just could’ve been the wrong time for him in the role. It didn’t marry up when he was there. Maybe he needed a bit more time in the role or maybe he needed more experience and could’ve had another role in between, even though he had some good results at Derby. I think that Wayne is going to find the right club. The word process is used a lot nowadays but there is an element of truth being that everybody needs time – and managers don’t get a lot of time these days.”