Tom Brady’s Blues are flying
Birmingham City’s 3-2 win over Peterborough Utd on Saturday consolidated its place atop League One of the English Football League (EFL) – the third tier of English soccer.
The Blues have dropped just two points this season and, after just seven games, are already being listed as short as -300 to win the league.
Before a ball had been kicked this season, the club was the favorite to win the league – for reasons we’ll come to later – but at a much more modest +188. But how and why has this happened?
Brady was to become a minority owner of Birmingham City
Well, if we go back to August last year, there was only a modest fanfare when it was announced that NFL great Tom Brady was to become a minority owner of Birmingham City FC.
After all, US investors in English soccer clubs have become the norm, including Ryan Reynolds’ and Rob McElhenney’s investment into Wrexham FC, which they turned into a television documentary series.
Loads of US investment in English soccer
But their approach was significant. It marked the start of US interest in English soccer expanding beyond the usual hedge funders and those solely looking for investment opportunities.
It brought celebrities into the equation – some, of course, looking to expand their portfolio of investments, but others simply wanted to take a piece of the pie because they could and because of the buzz.
Into which category Brady falls is still unknown, but it didn’t take him long, once he had called time on his stellar NFL career, to seek his adrenaline rush from a different type of football field.
Why Birmingham City and why Brady?
To answer that question, we need to understand the recent travails of Birmingham City, which go back to 2010-11. Back then, they were a Premier League (EPL) club who, in February 2011, won the League Cup (English soccer’s second most prestigious cup competition) by beating the mighty Arsenal 2-1 in a Wembley final.
Yet, while the club was riding the crest of a wave in February of that year, by the end of May, they were relegated to the second tier of English soccer – the Championship. Just two league wins in the 12 games that followed their Wembley triumph saw them finish that Premier League season 18th out of 20.
It was a relegation from which the club, to this day, has never recovered.
a toxic relationship that led the club down a slippery and dangerous path
At that time, the club was owned by Carson Yeung, a Hong Kong-based businessman, but it was a toxic relationship that led the club down a slippery and dangerous path.
In 2011-12, the Blues narrowly missed out on a place in the knockout phase of the Europa League but performed relatively well in the league, only just missing out on a return to the EPL.
Off-field financial struggles
But off the field, there were financial problems and the club struggled to stay within Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. Problems were also identified in Birmingham City’s day-to-day record keeping, and they were placed under a new-player transfer embargo.
Manager Chris Hughton left the club as a result and from there, it became a struggle to keep the club in the Championship. New manager Lee Clark twice led them to safety but, against a backdrop of financial struggles, was sacked in 2014.
Some relative stability was restored under the management of Gary Rowett, who led them to consecutive tenth-place finishes, but by then, new owners were in charge of the club: Trillion Trophy Asia.
Still, the financial problems persisted, but, with stars in their eyes, the new owners opted to sack the reliable Rowett in favor of a big name: former Italian superstar Gianfranco Zola.
New owners, new direction
The aim was to take the club in a new direction and assist in the board’s “strategic, long-term view” but it didn’t work and by then the Birmingham supporters, who were fully supportive of Rowett, were getting restless.
Just two wins from 24 games under Zola’s management left Birmingham needing two wins from the last three games to stay up, which they managed under the temporary stewardship of Harry Redknapp.
problems off the pitch were affecting the club’s ability to produce good soccer teams on it
But the rot had set in and Redknapp was followed by Steve Cotterill and then Garry Monk in the manager’s seat, as it became clear the problems off the pitch were affecting the club’s ability to produce good soccer teams on it.
During the 2018-19 season, they were placed under more budgetary restrictions and were given a nine-point deduction for breaches of the EFL’s Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) rules, but somehow managed to avoid relegation.
Unsurprisingly, Monk found the situation unworkable and left after an ongoing conflict with the club’s board.
US investors to the rescue
Monk’s assistant, Pep Clotet, was appointed as his replacement and in 2019–20, the club miraculously avoided relegation despite going 14 games without a win at the end of the season. Still, the off-field turmoil persisted, and following Clotet’s dismissal, Aitor Karanka, Lee Bowyer, and John Eustace were each handed managerial reins – all with limited success but in almost impossible circumstances.
But in 2023 there was a breakthrough. After two failed takeover attempts, Shelby Companies Ltd – a subsidiary of US-based Knighthead Capital Management and headed by the company’s co-founder Tom Wagner – bought a controlling stake in the club.
Importantly, the deal also saw them eventually take full ownership of the club’s stadium, St Andrews, which had been partly closed due to ongoing and expensive repairs.
Under the new ownership, the stadium restoration was completed and, significantly, former Manchester City CEO Garry Cook was appointed as the Blues’ new CEO.
Enter Tom Brady…
And this, finally, is where Brady comes in. As of early 2023, he had already dabbled in investing in sports teams. He already held minor stakes in the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, and the Las Vegas Night Owls, a Major League Pickleball club.
He and Wagner had been friends for several years – since their children attended the same New York school – so when the chance came to join forces and potentially take an English soccer club from the doldrums back to the big time, neither could resist.
use his leadership experience and expertise across several areas of the club
Worth noting is that Brady’s input isn’t just financial. As chairman of the club’s advisory board, he will also use his leadership experience and expertise across several areas of the club, including working with their sports science department to advise on matters such as health, nutrition, wellness, and recovery programs.
But this story is yet to get its happy ending. In fact, it suffered a very rocky patch within a few months of them and their partners taking control of the club.
Last October, with the team in the Championship playoff places, they took the odd decision to sack Eustace and replace him with a bigger name: former England record goal scorer Wayne Rooney.
It was a move that replicated the move to replace Rowett with Zola in 2016 and had similarly disastrous consequences. Rooney managed just two wins from his 15 games and was replaced by Tony Mowbray who, himself, had to step down due to unfortunate health issues.
Rowett was brought back temporarily but was unable to stop the club from slipping down to English soccer’s third tier for the first time in nearly three decades.
Third tier for the first time in nearly three decades
For Brady, Wagner, and company it was the worst possible scenario. Definitely not one that formed part of their detailed business plan.
But, and it’s a big but, the club’s US owners made the almost instant decision to fight back and do all they possibly could to make sure that not only was their League One stopover a short one, but it would be the start of the club’s rebirth – a quest to return it to its former glories.
Their first task was to find a new, permanent manager and so to Tottenham Hotspur they headed and brought in Chris Davies, the senior assistant coach to Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
sums previously unheard of in the third tier of English soccer
They then followed this up by going on a massive summer spending spree that saw them bring in 13 new players at an estimated cost of $39m – sums previously unheard of in the third tier of English soccer.
One of their signings, Jay Stansfield from Fulham (who they previously had on loan), cost a reported $19.37m – a record for League One by some distance.
The risk in putting together what is essentially a new team is considerable, but so far it has worked and worked well.
Since drawing their opening game of the season 1-1 against Reading, they have won every league game, which included a fine 3-1 victory over Reynolds’ and McElhenney’s Wrexham.
The comeback starts now
While it is still very early days, this Blues team is already being talked about as one of the greatest-ever in League One, and that’s mainly down to the funding put in place by Brady, Wagner, and their people.
There is still much work to be done, of course – not least of which is balancing the books to comply with the league’s EFL’s P&S rules – but for the first time in over a decade, Birmingham City fans are starting to believe and dream.
All of a sudden, their dream of competing against city rivals, Aston Villa – who are in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League – on an equal footing doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched.
Brady claims to be in it for the long haul, which must be music to the ears of Blues fans. As a result, they would be well advised to strap in, roll with the punches, and see where this exciting journey takes them.