Tom Brady learnt the hard way about the ramifications of relegation across the pond when Birmingham City was relegated to League One.
In 2023, the NFL great made an investment in the then-second-tier soccer team.
Brady and the club’s owners envisioned a Hollywood story, similar to Wrexham’s journey from the fifth tier of British football to League One.
However, they found themselves in the same division as Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s team after their blockbuster head coach hire of Wayne Rooney failed at the box office.
Keith Wyness, the former CEO of Premier League team Everton, outlined where he believes Brady and Co. went wrong.
“Birmingham is a great example of owners who thought they knew everything about football, hired Wayne Rooney, and ended up in League One,” he told Football Insider’s Inside Track Podcast.
“That’s a terrible illustration of what may go wrong when you move too soon. They made some major blunders.
“American owners can do that, but so can any nationality; there have been bad British owners as well.
“It’s a desire for success, but the way to that in football isn’t always so quick.”
Birmingham were sixth in the Championship when they fired manager John Eustace in favor of Rooney.
The Manchester United legend lasted only 15 games before being fired in January after his club lost nine games and fell to 20th place.
However, Birmingham’s managers appear to have ignored Wyness’ request for patience, as they spent heavily over the summer to provide new coach Chris Davies with an expensively assembled squad for their promotion bid.
The Blues broke the League One transfer record by signing Fulham striker Jay Stansfield for a fee that could reach $27.7 million, including add-ons.
The previous peak was Will Grigg’s $4.45 million move to Sunderland, which highlighted Birmingham’s extravagant spending.
So far, the bet has paid off, with the Blues and Wrexham taking the two automatic promotion spots.
Birmingham defeated Wrexham 3-1 in a high-profile match between the two American-owned clubs, with Stansfield scoring twice.
However, James McClean has pledged to ‘bring Birmingham back’ following his team’s defeat at St. Andrew’s.
That was just the warm-up,” he explained on Wrexham goalkeeper Ben Foster’s Fozcast.
“We owe them one, and we’ll get them back at our place.”
Birmingham face promotion rivals Charlton and Huddersfield in two of their next three games.
Their investors have invested heavily in the hopes of a rapid return to the Championship, and failure might have long-term ramifications.
