Brady & The Blues Review

This resonates with me greatly living in Stoke-On-Trent and it’s a phrase I’ve used so many times myself. Both cities rugged and rough around the edges but full of wonderfully diverse people from all walks of life, real salt of the earth people.

Fans of Birmingham FC were anxious when Tom Brady decided to throw money their way, a man who knows nothing about football now in control of their beloved football club but after seeing the rise of Wrexham football club owned by two guys who also didn’t have a clue about football the mood wasn’t entirely negative.

Built in Birmingham doesn’t dodge those questions from doubting fans. In fact, the documentary’s greatest strength is its willingness to treat Brady not as a savior or caricature, but as a stranger in a strange land trying to figure it all out.

He’s not the hero who rides in to save the club but it’s very upfront and honest that he hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing but he wants to learn and he wants to find out.

‘We’ve had so many rebirths, but they’ve all been phantom pregnancies” jokes one supporter. 

The series opens with Brady’s arrival in Birmingham—a cold, grey, unmistakably English day—and his first tentative steps into the club’s hallowed-but-weathered St Andrew’s Stadium. From the start, there’s a palpable tension between the glamour and polish Brady brings and the gritty, working-class identity of the club and its fiercely loyal supporters. But what could have easily become a “Hollywood meets humble” gimmick turns into something more nuanced and interesting.

The club has been bruised and battered over the years with relegation and underperforming running through its veins yet the fans come back over and over again, gluttons for punishment as the club fails and fails again. As a Port Vale fan I know this feeling all too well over the years but one good owner can change all that and with Tom Brady arriving at the club in August 2023, the club got recent promotion to the Championship this season. That’s quite the first impression.

But at times throughout the documentary there’s just a little niggle that all is not as it seems and that starts right from the first episode. Tom is in a car about to go into a pub and meet fans, you can clearly hear him saying ‘this is not my thing’and he’s almost hesitant to go inside the pub and meet the fans. I find that ever so strange, I don’t know the guy but meeting fans and doing this brand work is not exactly second nature to a man of his sporting stature so why the hesitation here?

I did find that rather odd and even more odd that the director decided to leave this particular moment (and a few others) in the documentary when it comes across as though he’s not entirely too keen on meeting the fans and then other comments about some of the facilities etc. I like how they left it in the doc to give it that raw edge but there’s just some little niggles that I would have if I was a fan watching that and your new owner was making those comments. But that’s just me.  

Steven Knight features heavily within Built in Birmingham: Brady & The Blues and it’s perfect timing as the Peaky Blinders writer was today announced to be the man behind the brand new James Bond movie script. No pressure Steven! 

It’s great to get an insight from fans from all walks of life as Birmingham was stepping into familiar territory with new owners but also with cautious optimism of what awaits them in the future.

The sacking of John Eustace sent the club into decline from the Championship when they were doing well and playing well. The upper level management had some answering to do when Wayne Rooney was appointed and then sacked 4 months later as his commitment was questioned by the owners as stated in the documentary.

As soon as Rooney arrives, the first meeting between him and Tom had Tom questioning his work ethic in a candid behind the scenes clip in the car and whilst I cannot say I agree with this statement I can agree that the footage shown in the documentary certainly don’t help Wayne, he seems out of his depth and in his brief interactions with Tom the mood is very lethargic and lazy in tone but that could just be clever / bias editing. 

It’s safe to say the owners didn’t quite find their feet straight off the bat and as a result the club toppled down into League One with a serious mountain to climb but as of the 24/25 season Birmingham shot straight back into the Championship at the first time of asking with Chris Davies at the helm who had never managed a football club before but had served as a coach and more recently the senior assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur before taking the leap into management in June 2024.

What I’ll also say is that I expect a LOT of football fans around the world to fall in love with striker Alfie May (who’s now joined Huddersfield, coincidentally the club he was linked to before signing for Birmingham). He comes across incredibly well in the show, humble, down to earth but with a desire to win and a desire to keep playing to provide for his family. He really is a shining star in this documentary for the brief time he’s on screen.

At the first time of asking Birmingham swept League One aside with one of the leagues most expensive squads and now they’re back in the Championship ready for the 25/26 season with Premier League in their sights.

But what you can take away from this is that appointing Wayne Rooney, who didn’t have much managerial experience himself and then appointing Chris Davies who has never managed a team before, this ownership aren’t afraid of taking risks and as a Birmingham fan that must be equal parts terrifying but equal parts fun.

Tom Brady forever speaks about power of belief, of culture, of setting high standards. And whether or not you buy into that, you can’t deny his commitment to it.

By the end of Built in Birmingham, what stays with you isn’t just the novelty of Tom Brady in a blue scarf—it’s the resilience of a club that refuses to die quietly and whilst Brady’s influence will determine the future trajectory of the club there’s certainly a feeling currently of stabilising the ship and getting them back into the championship was step one after an initial slip.

Welcome to Wrexham will forever be the documentary that inspired this one and all of the others thereafter but it works because it’s a lower league team working their way up whilst Birmingham were already at a higher level so the investment for a non-Birmingham fan in this documentary sadly just won’t be as deep but there’s still a lot of positives within this documentary to enjoy and invest in.

This is more than a sports documentary. It’s about risk, reinvention, and respect but I admire the honesty told throughout (even a little brutally at times) but even as a non-fan I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary and whilst it’s no Welcome In Wrexham it’s a rather nice little watch all the same.