Rob McElhenny has shared some crucial advice with Tom Brady about owning a British soccer club, urging the NFL icon to “listen more than you talk” to ensure he stays in fans’ good graces.

Brady followed McElhenney into soccer ownership last year, acquiring a minority stake in English club Birmingham City. McElhenney and fellow actor Ryan Reynolds have been owners of Welsh team Wrexham since 2020, transforming the fortunes of the club and leading it to back-to-back promotions.

Wrexham has become a global attraction in the process and an international audience was watching at St Andrews last week as Birmingham defeated the Red Dragons 3-1 – a high-profile League One clash between two teams expected to contend for promotion this season.

Ahead of the game, McElhenney was asked in a video uploaded to Brady’s YouTube channel what advice he would have for the seven-time Super Bowl champion about club ownership.

“For sure, listen more than you talk,” McElhenney told Brady on the field. “Ryan and I, who talk for a living, recognize that this is all about the community. It’s all about the people that come to these stadiums and fill these stadiums for a 100 years.

“The NFL was founded in what, the 1920s? [Birmingham City] has been here for almost 150 years and Wrexham was founded in 1864. That’s crazy. While the US was in the middle of a civil war they founded they founded a football club.”

McElhenney said Brady’s status as one of the greatest sportsmen of all time makes his situation as an owner very different, though. He continued: “Ryan and I very specifically stay out of the locker room.

“I mean we go in and we talk to the guys but we don’t have pep talks, we try to stay away from all football operations. That’s got to be such a competitive advantage for you to walk into those rooms and when you talk to those guys you’re one of five people probably on planet Earth that everybody in every locker room will listen to.”

Brady agreed, telling McElhenney he believes his experiences on the field in the NFL can help him motivate and inspire Birmingham’s players. The 47-year-old said: “That’s kind of where I think my biggest contribution can be.

“I was a player how did I I was so lucky to actually live my dream. How did I do it? It’s great now that I’m beyond that I can help 20 other guys who are young do the same thing and there’s a way to do it.

“It shouldn’t be a mystery. You can’t subcontract your health out to somebody else. For me, it’s like ‘This is how you do it and it’s non-negotiable for me in the same way’.

Both Birmingham and Wrexham have made an excellent start to the season in League One, the third tier of the English soccer pyramid. The Red Dragons sit top of the table, ahead of Birmingham on goal difference, although the Blues have played one game fewer than their promotion rivals.