Birmingham City owner – and former NFL star – Tom Brady, has been warned by Frank Sinclair to be more like Wrexham, not Manchester United!
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Brady warned about Birmingham City ownershipTold to be like Wrexham, not Man UtdEx-Chelsea defender Sinclair is excited for NFL star's tenureWHAT HAPPENED?
Speaking to finance group ex-Wrexham and Chelsea defender Frank Sinclair warned the New England Patriots legend, who recently joined the ownership group with Birmingham City.
Brady has since hired ex-Man Utd legend Wayne Rooney as boss of the club, and things are not off to a great start. Since Rooney's arrival, they've fallen to to relegation contenders. Now, the American has a big few months ahead of him with the January transfer window looming.
AdvertisementGettyWHAT SINCLAIR SAID
The former Blues defender said: "The obvious risks are seen when looking at what the Glazers have done to Manchester United. We don’t want that side of business being done in English football, whether that’s the Premier League or the lower leagues. We want genuine people to be coming into football clubs and not for them to be coming into a football club and drain it of all the assets that it has got or use it as a business that purely benefits themselves and not the fans and players. That’s the main danger."
“As I said, we’ve not seen any signs of that coming out of Wrexham. It seems genuine, it seems authentic as well. So, you’ve just got to hope that the likes of Birmingham City are going to try and replicate what Wrexham are doing but at their level and not what Man United are doing.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Brady is the latest celebrity to takeover an English football club, following in the footsteps of McElhenney and Reynolds. In the U.S. however, celebrities and athletes investing in clubs is becoming more and more common, with NBA superstar Kevin Durant being the latest to post on social media about it.
For Brady though, Sinclair asks him to avoid the mistakes of the Glazers, and to focus on the success of the Wrexham duo, instead.
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR BIRMINGHAM CITY?
The Blues are back in action Saturday against Sheffield Wednesday as they look to get their campaign back on track. They're winless in their last five matches and sit 18th in the Championship, with new manager Rooney already on the hot seat less than a month into his tenure with the organization.