Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has served as a minority owner and chairman of the advisory board at English football club Birmingham City for some time now. Under his tenure, the club has seen significant progress, especially this season, where they finished 10th in the second tier of English football after just getting promoted. While the rise of American ownership has been a constant topic of debate in soccer, Brady’s recent take on the firing culture in the sport caused a huge stir among fans.

“Why do you fire so many coaches all the time? Tottenham had three coaches here,” Brady wondered. “Why is everyone firing everybody? Don’t they realize the players play? I’m sure if you have Leo Messi as one of your forwards, one of your strikers, you’re not going to lose that much. You know what I’m saying? So it’s like, all of a sudden, we’re like, ‘Oh no, the coach is responsible for every bit of winning and losing.’ When to me, the players on the pitch or the players on the football field are incredibly important to winning.”

Interestingly, Brady’s appearance on the ‘Stick to Football’ podcast did not coincide with that of Wayne Rooney, who is a regular on the show. Rooney was one of the managers fired by Birmingham City, a club owned by the seven-time Super Bowl winner.

What led to the huge debate is not Lionel Messi’s ability to play football at an elite level. It was, in fact, how easily Brady narrowed down the complex nature of soccer.

The player Brady used as an example, Messi, joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2021. Alongside him were Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, both of whom were also considered the world’s best.

While they were able to succeed domestically, the club failed to win the Champions League, despite having the magical trio. In his first season, PSG went on to become Ligue 1 champions, but were eliminated in the Champions League Round of 16 by Real Madrid. The next year, PSG became Ligue 1 champions once again, but Bayern Munich eliminated them in the Champions League Round of 16, losing 3-0 on aggregate.

And Messi’s PSG wasn’t the sole example in this case. In modern soccer, enormous talent does not guarantee success.

Fans fire shots at Brady’s take on European soccer

Brady’s take on European soccer was not taken lightly by fans. One fan wrote, “He should stick to football, the other football,” while another added, “Sometimes a bad coach is a big debuff. I’ve seen coaches not make great use of Messi, too.”

Brady’s argument, however, revolved mainly around Tottenham’s 2025-26 season. The team started their summer by firing Ange Postecoglou, a coach who helped them win their first trophy in 17 years. They handed over the reins to Thomas Frank, who was fired six months after the season started. His replacement, Igor Tudor, lasted only 44 days before the club named Roberto De Zerbi, who eventually helped the team stay in the Premier League.

In European soccer, managers are mainly dismissed for tactical shortcomings, losing control of the dressing room, underperforming relative to the quality of the squad, and falling short of ownership’s expectations. Tottenham Hotspurs are one of the biggest clubs in England, and were not shy of quality players, but it was the fit that was never right, and that resulted in managers getting fired.

“He’s looking at it from an American lenses where if you have shit players you can just trade them away,” another user wrote.

Indeed! Brady comes from a completely different sporting ecosystem. NFL and European football operate very differently. In the NFL, roster construction depends on salary caps, draft picks, roster parity, and coaches also have an enormous influence over schemes. While team construction and coaching influence remain, it works in ways that are different from the NFL.

Take Tom Brady’s Patriots’ tenure, for instance. He spent his entire Patriots career under Bill Belichick. Belichick’s influence extended well beyond play-calling; it also included culture setting, preparation, situational football, and player development. So, it won’t be wrong to say that Brady benefited from elite coaching continuity, and still, he appears to minimize a manager’s impact in soccer.