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Birmingham City have secured promotion to the Championship with time to spare, and it’s now been revealed just how much of an impact Tom Brady has had at the club during this period of success.
It has been obvious for quite some time, but Birmingham finally confirmed their promotion status on Tuesday night with a 2-1 win away at Peterborough United.
The League One giants are 14 points clear of second-placed Wrexham with a game in hand, and it would seem Birmingham are on course for a record points haul this year.
Fans are obviously delighted to go up, but they still want and expect more, with the league title to claim and the Vertu Trophy final on the way this weekend.
Until then, there’s time to bask in the glory of Birmingham’s ascension back to the second tier, and dive into how instrumental Tom Brady has been in that process.
Tom Brady’s ownership role at Birmingham City explained
In a nutshell, Birmingham City are owned by American investment firm Knighthead. Tom Brady is a minority shareholder with Knighthead, and has helped to give the Blues a huge publicity boost since his name was attached to the club.
But, as per a report from The Athletic, his technical involvement in Birmingham is relatively small, at least from a facts and figures point of view. Brady has “no day-to-day involvement” in the running of the club, and only holds a 3.3% stake in Birmingham City as things stand.
But, he is chairman of an advisory board that works with Birmingham’s directors and leadership team, and as a seven-time NFL Super Bowl champion, he’s probably worth listening to.
It is said Brady also offers advice to Birmingham’s sports science department on “health, nutrition and recovery programmes”, and the Blues players make good use of Brady’s body coach, Alex Guerrero.
What has Chris Davies said about Tom Brady’s involvement?
Speaking to The Telegraph about Brady’s influence and involvement, Birmingham manager Chris Davies was full of praise for the face of the operation, insisting having Brady on call for advice is invaluable.
Davies said: “It’s like having a world-class consultant, one of the greats, that I can speak to at any time. I’ve worked with some top players at Liverpool and Spurs and Tom befits their very similar mentality. There is an unrelenting drive and passion for excellence.”
Ultimately, then, Brady brings top-level knowhow to the table, as well as a massively heightened profile for the club. This has all led to Birmingham recording huge profits over the last year, which in turn helps to fund the aggressive spending plan the Blues have for next season.
Birmingham fully intend to not just make up the numbers in the Championship, but will actually go all-out to get promoted again at the first opportunity. That mentality and soaring ambition certainly reeks of Tom Brady’s competitive spirit.
We hear Brady will be present at Wembley on Sunday — just his second trip to watch the team this season — and he will be hoping to see his winning habits pay dividends once more.