TOM BRADY and Birmingham City owner Tom Wagner have come under fire for their actions after Peterborough beat their side at Wembley.
Birmingham were denied a historic league and cup double as Darren Ferguson’s Posh upset the odds to lift the EFL Trophy with a 2-0 win on Sunday.
The Blues were promoted back to the Championship on Tuesday night – ironically after a 2-1 win against Peterborough – and won the League One title without kicking a ball on Saturday when Wrexham drew at Wigan.
Minority owner and NFL legend Brady was at Wembley to congratulate the team on their immediate promotion at the first time of asking, and was hoping to see them add another trophy to an impressive season.
With 47 points separating the sides in the League One table and Birmingham having already beaten Peterborough twice this season, the odds seemed stacked against the Posh.
But Birmingham were shocked to find themselves 2-0 down after first half goals from Harley Mills and Hector Kyprianou.
But, while most of their 50,000 travelling fans clapped the players as they climbed the steps to get their runners-up medals, viewers at home called out Wagner for his “cringeworthy” actions.
Wagner and Brady were spotted giving a lengthy team-talk to the Birmingham squad up in the stands before they collected their medals, while the winners were waiting to grab theirs.
Many thought it wasn’t their place to get involved and that player instructions should always come from the manager.
Reacting to a video on X, one fan raged: “What an embarrassment he (Wagner) is.”
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While another said: “Can you imagine getting smashed and then having to listen to these two about football?”
A third noted: “Do it in the dressing room. Only doing this because Tom Brady is there and the camera’s are out.”
While another said: “It’s so self indulgent to hold them up there whilst the winners are waiting.”
One more wrote: “Show respect to the winners. Let them have their moment of glory. So cringey to watch.”
Peterborough – who have never lost at Wembley and became the first club to retain the EFL Trophy – were indeed waiting to collect lift the trophy.
And for a team that has scored 100 goals in all competitions, Chris Davies’ Blues side offered little going forward and were limp in attack.
But others thought Wagner and Brady were only supporting the team and giving them a morale boost after a fantastic campaign.
One fan said: “I would imagine he’s saying something along the lines of ‘we’ve won the league, probably going to break the points record’.”
While Troy Deeney said on comms: “Brady and Wagner know they’ve lost because they’ve not put the best foot forward.
“And I think that’s what Wagner is saying to them now. He’s just saying ‘remember this feeling of losing because that’s going to carry you forward’.”
Spending big last summer, Birmingham revamped almost their entire playing squad for a first season in the third tier since 1995.
The Blues are on course to beat Wolves’ record League One points tally of 103.
The club’s emphatic season will be the subject of a new Amazon Prime documentary.