Tom Brady breaks silence on Birmingham City Championship relegation with emotional message
Birmingham City co-owner Tom Brady has released an emotional statement on social media after Blues relegation to the Championship.
Gary Rowett's side beat promotion-chasing Norwich City 1-0 on Saturday, but results elsewhere confirmed their demotion to English football's third tier. It will be Birmingham's first campaign in League One for 29 years.
Blues have endured a nightmare campaign since a controversial decision to sack John Eustace when the club were sixth in the table back in October. Eustace's successor, Wayne Rooney, struggled badly at St Andrew's' before his replacement, Tony Mowbray had to temporarily step aside in February to receive treatment for an illness.
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And Brady issued a rallying cry to Blues' fans after their dismal season came to an end. The NFL legend thanked the club's fans, promising their support will see better days at Birmingham in the future.
"Thank you for your support in a tough first year Bluenoses. We have a long way to go but it’s because of all of you that we’ll achieve great things in the future," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter, followed by a blue love heart emoji.
Interim boss Rowett expressed his disappointment after the game, whilst congratulating their relegation rivals for handling the pressure when Paik Seung-ho put Blues ahead against Norwich.
"It’s incredibly disappointing," he said. "I felt that if we kept our side of the bargain today we would get a result elsewhere that went in our favour, and most people would have expected something to have happened. You look at these last day moments, or last day goals, and it didn’t seem like there was anything going on out there. Congratulations to the teams that held their nerve. I’m sure when they heard about our goal it added pressure.
"The atmosphere in the stadium was probably the best I’ve ever heard before a game, it was absolutely electric. As we knew they would, the fans more than played their part.
"I thought we played well against a very good Norwich side but when you know that’s not enough, of course there’s a feeling of dejection. Sometimes when you put a performance like that in because you have to and you need to, what really good teams do is they do it when they don’t need to. They show that same level of attitude when they don’t need to."