Wayne Rooney Is The BBC Podcaster Absolutely Nobody Is Asking For

Wayne Rooney and Kelly Somers during a panel discussion, at BBC Sport’s 2025/26 Football Season Launch at TOCA Social White City, London. Picture date: Thursday August 14, 2025. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

PA Images via Getty Images

As far as promotional material for a new podcast is concerned, you don’t get much better than having one of the greatest sportsmen in history, Tom Brady, going viral with a comment about your host.

The problem for Wayne Rooney and the BBC was that the New England Patriots star was not complimentary about the Liverpudlian.

In a widely circulated clip from an Amazon Prime documentary about Birmingham City, the English Championship club co-owned by Brady, the NFL legend is seen speaking to Rooney, who was his manager.

From the first moment, the vibe is off, as Brady looks earnestly at Rooney, the England legend mumbles and gives vague answers.

The footage cuts to a first-team video briefing, which Manchester United’s top scorer half-heartedly delivers. At one point, he starts to walk off, asking an assistant, “Do you want to do it?”

There is a hard cut to Brady, who says, in brutal fly-on-the-wall documentary style, he’s “a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.”

Rooney quickly responded to the new platform handed to him by UK public broadcaster the BBC: The Wayne Rooney Show- a twice-weekly podcast for the decorated former England captain to offer his opinions on the world of soccer.

“I think Tom came in once, which was the day before a game where the days are a little bit lighter anyway, and I don’t think he really understood football that well,” Rooney said.

“But what he does understand is, he’s a hard worker, we know that.”

“Football is not NFL – NFL works for three months a year. Players do need rest as well, so I think he’s very unfair, the way he’s come out and portrayed that.”

Clearly, the broadcaster’s leadership views it as good PR, as two weeks after the comments, Rooney’s response is still pinned to the top of the BBC Sport YouTube page.

If Brady were to come back at the former Everton man, which he almost certainly won’t, he wouldn’t need to look far for examples to back up his point.

Taking just the bare stats into consideration, Rooney’s managerial career has been defined by a horrendously low win rate, but that is in addition to a spate of embarrassing off-field antics.

His most successful job was at Derby County, where he rescued a side that seemed doomed for relegation in the Championship, having made the step up from player to coach.

However, after achieving that relative success, he was splashed on the front pages for a night out ahead of the following season. Subsequently, he oversaw a dismal campaign that resulted in relegation. Rooney had a significant mitigation for this disaster because Derby was mired in financial troubles and suffered significant points deductions.

A brief spell followed at D.C. United, where his win rate was around 28%, and the club never looked like challenging for the playoffs. Then came Birmingham City, where poor performances and a lack of clear strategy landed the team in relegation trouble.

He spent just seven months in charge of Plymouth Argyle, during which his nights out in the town had a bigger impact than anything his team achieved on the field.

Rooney’s drinking habit should not be taken lightly. The man himself has admitted to having serious problems with alcohol that deserve compassion.

But the brutal truth is that ending up in the media for your nights out reeks of a bad attitude, and you cannot put yourself in such compromising situations as a coach.

As a player, Rooney had the type of extraordinary natural talent that overcomes almost all obstacles, even those that are self-inflicted. However, the world of management is not as forgiving.

It’s inconceivable that a top-level coach would be found singing karaoke in the town centre during the regular season, let alone if their team had just two points from the first three games.

But that’s what Wayne Rooney, the manager, has been caught doing. Tom Brady isn’t disrespectful for questioning his work ethic; arguably, he could go further.

So we come to Rooney’s new show, which itself appears to be an admission that he’s cooked as a soccer manager.

Hopefully, the Liverpudlian has learned from his previous post-retirement experiences and realises that hard work is essential to making even a media career work.

It’s not just about spouting off. To create engaging content, you must apply yourself and consider what an audience wants.

So far, he’s mainly been targeting his old club and the current crop of players.

Discussing Brentford striker Yoan Wissa deleting all mention of his current club from his social media as he seeks a transfer, Rooney said: “I just think it’s really disrespectful.

“Brentford have been there and given him a platform to go and perform in the Premier League and do well, and he has done well.

“He’s a really good player. But to distance yourself from the football club, from your team-mates, from the fans?

“And to just unfollow the club and take all his pictures down of a club who’ve helped you progress as a player. If he wants to leave then I don’t think anyone has a problem with that if it’s done the right way.

“But I think these players are like kids now, or they’re very badly advised in what they’re doing because I know agents have influence.

“A lot of people have their father or the brother as an agent now and sometimes the right thing, or the right decision, is not always the one from the players’ point of view.

“So it’s very disappointing to see his behaviour over the last few days.”

If I were Wissa, I’d feel that a man who once flirted with Manchester City and tried to stare down Sir Alex Ferguson during his time at Manchester United should not be lecturing current pros about ‘respect.’

If Rooney were to delve into those decisions in his career, which he might, then his podcast would be worth listening to.

Currently, it’s just another ex-pro giving bland analysis and tired anecdotes. Wayne Rooney is the podcaster absolutely nobody asked for.