Liam Ridgewell has admitted he’d rather Birmingham City had stayed up than won the League Cup in 2011.Ridgewell played the full 90 as Birmingham upset the odds to secure a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Wembley 15 years ago.Ridgewell coached in the MLS after retiring from footballGettyObafemi Martins scored the winning goal late on after Robin van Persie had cancelled out Nikola Zigic’s opener.However, the Midlands side were relegated that same season as they finished 18th, one point behind rivals Wolves.And Ridgewell revealed to Shaun Custis and Henry Winter on Sunday Edition that he’d rather Birmingham had beaten the drop that year instead of securing domestic glory.‘People lost jobs’“The same year, we got relegated,” the former defender began. “A lot of players were getting through games to get to the final.“You are playing through injuries, and you’re trying to get through to play a major cup final.“A lot of us will never win a major trophy. That’s what we did, but it just took enough out of us.“We didn’t have a big enough squad to keep changing players.”Custis then asked whether Ridgewell would have preferred to stay up or win the League Cup, to which the 42-year-old replied: “I’d rather we stayed up.”And when pressed further, he continued: “People lost jobs over that.“Staff members, cleaners, kit men. People lost jobs because we got relegated.Ridgewell joined Sunday Edition on talkSPORT to speak about his careertalkSPORT“We didn’t. We went to another club. We moved on but people lost their jobs and that club has still not been back in the Premier League.“I said: ‘I would swap [winning the League Cup for] staying up and moving that team on’.“We were galvanised and a really good team at the point. I think that team would have continued to go from strength to strength.“Obviously, I wouldn’t be sitting here with a Carling Cup and something I dream of.“But it would have been something massive for the football club to keep people in a job.”Birmingham’s season so farFollowing relegation in 2011, Birmingham spent 13 years in the Championship, and were relegated to League One in 2024.Birmingham have started well in the 2026/27 Championship seasonGettyHowever, the Midlands side returned to England’s second tier the following year, coming up as champions.And they have made a solid start to the 2026/27 season as they sit eighth in the Championship following Saturday’s 2-1 win at Derby.Victory at Pride Park over the weekend was Birmingham’s second league win of the campaign as the Midlands side seek to secure a Premier League return.