LONDON (AP) — England soccer great Wayne Rooney has some beef with Tom Brady after some pointed comments by the NFL superstar in a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
Brady became a minority owner of English club Birmingham City in 2023 and was involved in a docuseries — “Built in Birmingham” — that went behind the scenes at the team that was briefly managed by Rooney, the former Manchester United forward.
In one clip that quickly spread over social media, Brady said he was “a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.” That remark referred to Rooney, who lasted just 83 days as manager before being fired as Birmingham slipped down the second-tier Championship.
Rooney has responded to the seven-time Super Bowl champion in his new role as a pundit for the BBC, saying Brady’s comment was “very unfair.”
“Tom came in once, which was the day before a game, which is a little bit lighter anyway,” Rooney said in an interview with the BBC published on Thursday, “and I don’t think he really understood football that well at the time. Maybe he does now.
“But what he does understand is that he’s a hard worker. We know that. So that’s why I’m really disappointed with the comment, because football is not NFL. NFL works for three months in a year, players do need rest as well, so I think he was very unfair in the way he’s come out and portrayed that.”
Birmingham was relegated in that campaign but secured immediate promotion last season and is back in the Championship — one league away from the Premier League.
“Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively — he’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest athlete of all time,” Rooney said. “And Birmingham do look like they are getting it right now, which is good.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
This photo combo shows left D.C. United head coach Wayne Rooney as he walks off the field after an MLS soccer match against Inter Miami, Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Washington, and right Former NFL player and Fox NFL host Tom Brady prior to the NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photos/Alex Brandon, Chris Szagola)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.
“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.
Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
