03 August 2023 , 09:10
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Birmingham City’s new American owners talked the talk when they arrived at St Andrew’s last month. And they’re walking the walk.
Announcing legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady as a minority investor in the club may not help John Eustace on the pitch. But it’s a big statement that Knightshead Capital means business off it.
Brady is a blue-chip, all-American sporting hero. They don’t come any bigger. He says that he knows about how to look after himself as an athlete. As a seven-time Super Bowl winner, that’s beyond doubt. Let’s be honest, he knows as much about life at a Championship football club as this author knows about carp fishing.
But that’s not really the point.
You know, so what if he can’t actually influence anything in a sport of which the inner workings will be alien to him?
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The fact that he has put his name to the re-birth of a football club that was spiralling down the plughole under Chinese ownership is proof that, finally, something positive is happening in B9.
Brady has become a minority investor so the blurb goes. We don’t even know if he has injected any capital or whether he has just allowed his name to be positioned against the project. In 12 months’ time, it’s unlikely that anything Brady does will have registered.
He may have an input on nutrition, recovery, preparation, psychology - anything that can translate from across the Pond from the mind of one of American sports’ true winners - to benefit another group of athletes.
In truth, it doesn’t matter. It’s the symbolism that does.
It’s the signal it sends out that Birmingham City are dragging themselves out of the mire. That the self-inflicted chaos of the past decade might finally be nearing an end. That their new owners can persuade the likes of Brady to put his name to their project suggests the scale of their horizons has widened.
“Birmingham City is an iconic club with so much history and passion and to be part of the Blues is a real honour for me," said Brady. "BCFC is built on teamwork and determination and I’m excited to work alongside the board, management and players to make our Second City club second to none."
And everyone at St Andrew’s will be grateful for that.
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