Tom Brady’s Birmingham primed to touch down in the Championship

Driven by the ambitious ownership of Tom Wagner and an NFL icon, the Blues intend to take the second tier by storm

Unsurprisingly, Tom Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion and global sporting icon, is braced for the challenges that await Birmingham City, where he is a minority owner. Just because you were successful last year doesn't mean you're going to be successful this year," he says, alluding to a season that culminated in promotion and a record-breaking tally of 111 points. You have to put the same amount of work, commitment and discipline in - sometimes more - because the stakes only get higher. When the competition gets tougher, the margin of error gets smaller."

It is his final answer in an interview that takes in everything from the blue-collar nature of Birmingham", which he compares with Cleveland and Cincinnati, to the Championship landscape and the bubbling rivalry with Aston Villa, which he was educated on during his first visit to England's second-biggest city after acquiring his 3.3% stake.