Wayne Rooney has responded publicly to criticism of his work ethic from Tom Brady, the NFL quarterback who held a minority ownership stake in Birmingham City during Rooney's spell as manager at the club, according to 90min.
Brady's remarks concerned Rooney's conduct during that period in charge at St Andrew's, 90min reports, though the precise nature of the criticism and the context in which it was made have not been set out in full by the publication.
Rooney's tenure at Birmingham was brief and ended before the club could consolidate any lasting progress under his management. The American ownership group that took over the club brought significant outside attention to what had previously been a mid-table Championship side, and Brady's involvement made Birmingham a recurring subject of transatlantic sports coverage during that period.
The public exchange between the two men is notable if only because it brings into view questions that surrounded the Birmingham project throughout: the relationship between ownership ambitions and day-to-day football operations, and the degree to which a manager could work effectively within an ownership structure so unusual by English football standards.
How much further either party intends to pursue the matter in public is unclear. 90min's report indicates Rooney has made his position known, but the detail of both the original criticism and the response remains limited in what has been published so far.