Ex-Man Utd star’s Wayne Rooney admission speaks volumes after Tom Brady criticism

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargraves has leapt to the defence of Wayne Rooney following NFL Icon Tom Brady’s scathing comments of the ex-England striker’s work ethic

Former Manchester United star Owen Hargreaves has claimed that Wayne Rooney was one of the hardest workers he’s ever played with. The ex-England star’s comments fly in the face of the remarks made by NFL legend Tom Brady, who recently criticised Rooney’s work ethic.

Rooney was given the boot by Birmingham City, where Brady is a part-owner, after just 83 disastrous days in charge in January 2024. The seven-time Super Bowl champion questioned Rooney’s application to his position as manager in a documentary that followed Brady’s involvement with Birmingham.

Following a visit to the club’s training ground in November 2023, Brady let slip that he was “a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic”. While Rooney has responded to the comments himself, he has been backed by Hargreaves, who played with Rooney at United from 2007-2011.

Speaking on That Peter Crouch podcast, the ex-Bayern Munich star was asked who was better in training out of Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney, with the Liverpudlian remarkably just edging it over the player who’s regarded as one of the greatest of all time.

“What a great question,” Hargreaves began. “I’m sure Cristiano would disagree but Wazza [Rooney] was insane. Peak Wazza. Prime Wazza was like a hybrid, he was crazy.”

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Addressing Brady’s claims in August, on his self-titled podcast, Rooney slammed the comments as “unfair. He said “I think Tom came in once, which was the day before a game where the days are a little bit lighter anyway, and I don’t think he really understood football that well.

“But what he does understand is, he’s a hard worker, we know that. Football is not NFL – NFL works for three months a year. Players do need rest as well, so I think he’s very unfair, the way he’s come out and portrayed that.”

Knighthead Capital Management LLC launched a takeover of Birmingham back in June 2023. Brady joined two months later, and just four months on, the new ownership replaced manager John Eustace with Rooney.

However, Rooney’s spell was ill-fated to say the least. He lasted just 15 matches before being sacked with the team 20th in the table.

“When I went into Birmingham, they were in a mess really,” said Rooney on his stint. “Hence the fact that the players weren’t really the players who could take the club forward.”

Four managers, including Tony Mowbray, stepped in with little success before Chris Davies was later installed as head coach. The Blues finished top of League One in 2024-25 under Davies, earning promotion to the Championship.

Despite the former New England Patriots star’s harsh critique, Rooney chose to remain diplomatic rather than hit back at the star.

“Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively,” said Rooney. “He’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest athletes of all time and Birmingham do look like they’re getting it right now, which is good and I think what they have done is got the players out that they needed to get out.”

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