TOM BRADY produced a funny retort after being given an X-rated welcome by travelling Wrexham fans.

The NFL legend was in attendance at St Andrew’s watching his Birmingham side take on the Red Dragons.

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Tom Brady took a lap of the pitch ahead of kick-off[/caption]

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Brady spoke with his opposite number Rob McElhenney before the game[/caption]

He walked a lap of the pitch ahead of kick-off which meant he had to pass the travelling Wrexham contingent, and he was given a frosty reception.

Brady, 47, was jeered and some fans began singing: “Who the f***ing hell are you?”

Others used even more expressive language but Brady had the perfect response.

The American raised a thumbs up at the Wrexham supporters and beamed from ear to ear as he pointed at one, winding them up further.

Brady is still fairly new to the EFL having become a minority owner at Birmingham last year, but he appears to be enjoying the experience.

Towards the end of the match he applauded in response to the outbreak of a mass brawl involving almost every player on the pitch.

Wrexham’s Paul Mullin was at the heart of the incident after he almost bit Birmingham defender Alex Cochrane.

Blues star Krystian Bielik began pushing and shoving the striker and his team-mate Andy Cannon.

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Bielik was booked along with Wrexham’s James McClean, who also made an X-rated gesture to Blues fans as he was substituted and was seen shouting in the dugout area.

Wrexham had taken an early lead in the contest through Jack Marriott but a double from Jay Stansfield inspired a comeback from the home side before Tomoki Iwata wrapped up the three points.

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Brady invited David Beckham to the match as his guest[/caption]

PHIL JONES lifted the lid on years of abuse and mental anguish he suffered at the hands of vile trolls.

And the former Manchester United and England defender revealed he was only able to overcome the torment with help from a psychologist and a therapist.

Jones, 32, who retired last month, avoided the public, rarely went to restaurants and dodged speaking to team-mates.

All the while, fans who abused him were unaware of the true extent of his 14-year injury battle.

Opening up about his struggles, Jones confessed that when he did play, the agony of his wrecked right knee was regularly numbed by painkillers and steroids.

And while he was struggling physically, there was also a mental toll.

He said: “I’d been through that much trauma mentally.”

Jones first tore his meniscus as an 18-year-old at Blackburn and, although Sir Alex Ferguson signed him for United, it was the beginning of his injury nightmare.

As the injury absences became longer, Jones became the subject of horrific abuse and ridicule both online and face to face in the street.

Asked if it affected him, he said: “Anybody who tells you that it doesn’t is lying. And as footballers you have to put this mask on.

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“You get paid a lot of money so you are not allowed to have feelings or emotions.

“The physical injuries made me mentally weak at times.

“Obviously people will ask, ‘he is always injured?’ as though they  think that I wake up one day and think, ‘oh, yeah, I fancy being injured  today’.

“But my coping  mechanism  was to be  silent, put my   guard up, my shield up around with my really close family.

“I wouldn’t even really communicate with my friends that well.”

Jones said he tried to stay off social media but his friends would fill him in.

He said: “You’d go past people in the street and they’d say something and it would really aggravate you and get to you.

“You just hear people whispering, ‘Oh there he is, f**king injury-prone’. People say, ‘you shouldn’t take that money then’.

“As footballers you have to put this mask on

Phil Jones

“If they only knew what I was doing behind the scenes to get right.

“Flip that on its head and say, ‘I’ll tell you what then, what I’ll do is I’ll take the money away from you and see if you go back into work’. Everybody’s got to earn money.

“I found it really hard to go to restaurants for years. You put your head down when you’re walking through crowds and stuff. I didn’t want people to spot me.”

Following surgery at Blackburn, Jones appeared to have recovered but his knee went again, a year after his move to Old Trafford and surgeons had to remove the meniscus.

Again he fought back but eventually having to play with bone rubbing on bone took its toll.

Although he never fully recovered, Jones said he “left no stone unturned” to carry on playing.

Speaking to the High Performance podcast released this week, Jones said: “My knee would swell.

“I’d be on compression boots, I’d be on the ice, I’d be in the pool, recovery, trying to get every inflammation down.

“I would start getting really, really sharp pains every time  I passed the ball. Incredible amount of pain.

“When I look back now I think ‘wow’, I give myself a pat on  the back for getting through  those periods.

“Players and staff knew I had a bad knee but I hid it really well.”

Despite taking strong pain medication, Jones revealed the team doctor would eventually have to inject his knee before games.

After years seeing surgeons and specialists, Jones said he spent more time on the treatment table than a pitch.

He started deliberately coming in late for physio to avoid well-meaning team-mates constantly asking how his knee was.

And his anguish began affecting his family life.

He even wanted his wife, Kaya, to remove a display of England caps — Jones played 27 times for his country — and a Premier League-winners trophy because he felt “worthless”.

But eventually, and partly for the sake of his daughters, Jones realised he had to “deal with it”.

Jones also came to accept that his playing days were over.

He added: “It was a relief off my shoulders that I didn’t have to put myself through this pain.”

United released him in the summer of 2023, a year after his final appearance in a 3-0 Premier League win over Brentford.

But after helping coach Red Devils’ youngsters, he is setting his sights on coaching or management.

He says: “I’m looking forward  to the future and I’m positive about it.”

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THE price of coffee beans is at a 13-year high — making our daily caffeine fix more expensive.

Wholesale prices shot up by 2.6 per cent to $2.64 (£2) per pound this week, the highest since 2011.

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Coffee bean prices have jumped 40 per cent in the past year after poor harvests in Vietnam and Brazil[/caption]

One pound of coffee beans can make about 30 cups.

Most big coffee chains have hiked prices by a third in the past three years, with a fancy latte now costing £5 in London.

Coffee bean prices have jumped 40 per cent in the past year after poor harvests in Vietnam and Brazil.

Supply chain disruption in the Red Sea has also played a part.

And coffee farmers in Vietnam are instead growing durian — the world’s stinkiest fruit — to cater for high demand from China.

Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said: “Drought in Vietnam and farmers switching to other products is the main reason why [coffee] is trading at record levels.

The cost of your cuppa will likely rise further, although it’s worth remembering that only a fraction of the final cost is the actual cost of the beans.”

Beans are estimated to make up just ten per cent of a takeaway coffee’s cost. The rest is for packaging, equipment, wages and shop rents.

SOME of the world’s best snooker players are currently battling it out at the English Open in Brentwood – and Ronnie O’Sullivan kickstart his campaign TODAY!

The Rocket will be hoping to avoid a shock early upset against Chinese star He Guoqiang.

John Higgins is also in action as he looks to become only the second player to hit 1000 century breaks after O’Sullivan.

• Day six start time: 10am BST
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• TV channel: Eurosport
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