{"id":502593,"date":"2025-10-15T22:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/502593\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T22:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:33:15","slug":"i-refereed-birmingham-city-vs-aston-villa-and-had-to-stay-in-the-changing-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/502593\/","title":{"rendered":"I refereed Birmingham City vs Aston Villa and had to stay in the changing room"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former referee has recalled his experience officiating at a raucous St Andrew&#8217;s on a night when Birmingham City beat rivals Aston Villa<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_JS55782641.jpg\" alt=\"Former referee Chris Foy\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Former referee Chris Foy<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">Former referee Chris Foy says the atmosphere was so electric at St Andrew\u2019s during <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/birmingham-city-fc\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Birmingham City\u2019sLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Birmingham City\u2019s<\/a> League Cup quarter-final victory over Aston Villa that he had to soak it in from his changing room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">Nikola Zigic scored late to hand Blues a 2-1 win on the way to their 2011 cup triumph and sent <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/st-andrews-stadium\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"St Andrew\u2019sLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">St Andrew\u2019s<\/a> into delirium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">The small matter of it being Villa who Blues had dumped out in the last-eight added to a scintillating atmosphere inside the stadium and Foy couldn\u2019t help but enjoy it from the safety of the changing room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">Speaking on the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0Ei8CS5dnLnLfhjsN9uRw7?si=_zXvh2zBRtmW3BHhVanJag&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=786e31eb0c614543\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Men In Black Podcast,Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Men In Black Podcast,<\/a> Foy was asked to name the most explosive derby match he was involved in and said: \u201cI&#8217;ve refereed some incredible football matches, lots of London derbies, some Manchester derbies, some really tough rivalries. Man United-Leeds in the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/fa-cup\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">FA Cup<\/a> was incredible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">\u201cBut it was a quarter-final in the League Cup and it was <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Birmingham<\/a> City against Aston Villa at St Andrew&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">\u201cMy goodness me, what an evening that was. Just getting to the ground you could feel it. The crowd were very close to the pitch, the place was full to the rafters and the atmosphere was unbelievable. It was just non-stop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">\u201cAfter the game, everything had gone well for us, we&#8217;d officiated the game and there were no controversies, but I just sat in the changing room and didn&#8217;t get changed. It was just so noisy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">\u201cThe atmosphere was just incredible. By the time we&#8217;d got changed, had a shower, got suited and booted and wanted to leave the ground, we couldn&#8217;t because it was just chaos outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What are your memories of that fixture? Let us know <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/refereed-birmingham-city-st-andrews-32486745#comments-wrapper\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"HERELink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">BirminghamLive has its very own <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/birmingham-city-fc\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Birmingham CityLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. 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