Tom Brady might have walked straight out of central casting to be the all-American sporting hero. Standing 6ft 4in tall, Hollywood handsome and once married to a supermodel, he became the most-decorated NFL success story in history.
The fame of the man who has improbably bought into Birmingham City extended beyond even the USA’s vast expanses to enter the imagination of the wider world.
He has been feted globally for his achievements and longevity: an unprecedented seven Super Bowl triumphs, with his strong right arm carrying his career not only to a record passing yards — 89,214 — but to 45, the years-defying retirement age he typically set for himself and even more typically met, after one false retirement that was soon retracted.
American sport is quantified by statistics, so only half an apology for recalling that his other unsurpassed figures included 649 passing touchdowns and 7,753 pass completions. In his forties he even beat the numbers he set in his twenties, with the help of a reconstructed knee.
While we may quibble over whether LeBron James or Michael Jordan was the supreme being in basketball, who can say other than Brady is gridiron’s GOAT — the Greatest Of All Time?
Tom Brady has invested in Championship outfit Birmingham City and become a minority shareholder at the club. He confirmed the news to fans in a video on social media on Thursday
The 46-year-old has ventured into a new sport after making history throughout his NFL career
Brady – pictured alongside fellow sporting legends Lewis Hamilton, Michael Jordan and David Beckham (L-R) – is considered royalty by many after his overwhelming success in the NFL
In quantities easier for a British audience to understand, Brady earned some $1billion in wages and endorsements across 23 years, 20 of those reaching dizzying pinnacles with the New England Patriots prior to his retirement at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he spent an Indian summer, conquering the Super Bowl for one last time in 2021.
He could have earned even more riches had he not, for a number of years, accepted a discount from the Patriots so they could invest in the rest of the team and remain within the salary cap.
It is a sign of him being the ultimate competitor and winner and put him — as some would send up — close to sainthood.
It all began without much razzmatazz, though. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jnr, born San Mateo, California, one of four children and the only son, a graduate of the University of Michigan, was selected as a distant 199th afterthought by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, the biggest heist imaginable.
After that came 17 divisional titles, 11 of them consecutive, nine Super Bowl appearances and six titles with New England. In all, he has been named Most Valuable Player three times.
It was both their good fortunes that Brady was in concert with coach Bill Belichick, American Football’s answer to Sir Alex Ferguson, though it should be recorded that the Patriots have done nothing of note without their star quarterback to this day.
There was a dash of grit in the heady mix. Brady was disciplined for ordering the deflation of balls in the Patriots’ victory over the Indianapolis Colts in 2015 and was suspended for four games. His team were fined $1m and forfeited two draft selections.
Brady’s fortune with coach Bill Belichick saw them achieve unrivalled success on the pitch
The quarterback won seven Super Bowls during his career – the most of any player in history
Brady, who wore Make America Great Again caps in support of Donald Trump, completed his fairy-tale romance with Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen in a Catholic ceremony at Santa Monica in 2009.
In up-to-the-minute vernacular, Ken had met his Barbie. They had two children, Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10. The pair’s divorce was finalised in October last year. One theory behind the split was his reluctance to retire, an unwillingness to put family before his calling in sport.
Brady (left) and Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen (right) announced their divorce on October 2022 after 13 years of marriage
Yet Bundchen told Vanity Fair: ‘What’s been said is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. It’s not so black and white.
‘I have always cheered for him and will continue for ever. If there’s one person I want to be the happiest in the world, it’s him, believe me. I want all his dreams to come true.’
His longevity was sustained by his diet, or so we are led to believe. It is called the TB12 Method, a largely plant-based regimen. Devised with alternative medicine practitioner Alex Guererro, it incorporates, ‘a series of healthy daily habits across five pillars — pliability, nutrition, hydration, movement and mental fitness’.
It is intended to reduce inflammation, provide energy, improve performance and aid recovery.
Organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes make up about 80 per cent of the fare. Grass-fed, organic meat and hormone and antibiotic-free poultry make up the remaining 20 per cent, along with wild-caught fish and seafood. Tomatoes are eschewed.
What they would have made of that at Trevor Francis’s Birmingham City is anyone’s guess, but that is modern sports science at its cutting edge.
These days, post-retirement, Brady is held up as an emblem of what looking after yourself can do to a sportsman. His name is cited when it is asked if his friend Lewis Hamilton can go on beyond the age of 38. ‘Look at Tom Brady, still at it at 45,’ said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff when the question came up. ‘Age is no barrier.’
Bundchen had been alongside Brady throughout his career success before they separated
A youthful Brady (right) pictured teeing off with eventual US president Donald Trump in 2006
By buying into a second-tier football club, Brady is no doubt seeking some sort of dividend. On this side of the Pond, few have managed financial glories for long post-career, value being apt to die when one’s playing days are over.
Sir Jackie Stewart is probably the best example of someone who has made it work, with his links to Ford, Rolex and Heineken, and as a team owner of his eponymous, Grand Prix-winning outfit, sold for a goldmine.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Arnold Palmer made a success of a stratospherically bank-busting retirement and endless appeal.
Tom Brady, superstar, may hope he is of the same ilk.
FROM BRADY TO BRADY… THE STORY OF THE BLUES
September 2009: Karren Brady announces her decision to leave Birmingham City as soon as Carson Yeung completes his takeover. Brady had become the club’s managing director in 1993, aged 23.
May 2011: Birmingham are relegated to the Championship three months after winning the League Cup.
Mar 2014: Hong Kong court finds Yeung guilty of five counts of money-laundering. He is sentenced to six years in jail.
Feb 2015: Blues’ parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Limited, enters receivership, blaming ‘fractious and inharmonious relations within the management’ for the decision.
Oct 2016: Chinese company Trillion Trophy Asia completes takeover — 16 months after the group are given a two-year exclusivity period to purchase the club.
June 2020: Birmingham sell 17-year-old Jude Bellingham to Borussia Dortmund for £25m and retire his No 22 shirt, despite the midfielder playing only one season in the first team.
June 2022: Former Watford owner Laurence Bassini mounts failed bid to buy the club.
December 2022: A consortium led by former Barcelona striker Maxi Lopez pulls out of discussions to buy a stake in Birmingham.
June 13 2023: Knighthead Capital, fronted by US businessman Tom Wagner, has takeover bid approved by EGM.
August 3 2023: NFL superstar Tom Brady announces he will become minority owner and chairman of new advisory board at Birmingham.
