The latest Birmingham City news from BirminghamLive includes details about Tom Brady’s participation in the holding company that controls Blues, Shelby Companies Limited. The breakdown of Tom Brady’s interest in Shelby Companies Limited, the holding company via which Knighthead acquired their ownership in Birmingham City, has been released by Companies House.
Shelby Companies Limited filed documents acknowledging Brady’s involvement. The NFL legend is a longtime business partner of Knighthead vocalist Tom Wagner and became a minority investor in Blues last August.
Brady attended two Blues games during Knighthead’s first season in charge and visited the training facility on both trips to Birmingham. The 46-year-old is thought to be eager to implement his nutrition and recovery ideas, and he stationed two of his fitness instructors at the first team’s facility midway through the season.
He is also the chairman of Blues’ ‘advisory board’, as revealed by chief executive Garry Cook to BirminghamLive last year: “I think that’s what an advisory board should be doing; they should be questioning the CEO and the board, because they come from a place of knowledge. And if you’ve won seven NFL rings, you’ve probably learned something about how the body functions at its peak.”
Brady, however, does not have the right to vote. Shelby Companies Limited has 330 Class B shares owned by the American. According to the filing, the B shares rank equally, with each entitled to dividends and capital returns. The shares are not redeemable and have no voting rights. The remaining 9.670 shares are classified as Class A and are divided among Knighthead Annuity & Life Insurance Company and Knighthead Master Fund, L.P. Only Class A shareholders have voting rights.
The Blues’ board now includes chairman Wagner, CEO Cook, Matt Alvarez, Andrew Shannahan, and Kyle Kneisly, as well as the last two Birmingham Sports Holdings-affiliated directors, Wenqing Zhao and Edward Gannan Zheng.
Brady’s engagement has sparked considerable global media attention in Blues during the last 12 months. The media gathered to St Andrew’s on August 12, last year, when Brady made his first visit to the city. Wagner claimed the revelation of Brady’s engagement resulted in ‘almost 17 billion good media impressions’ for the club.
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