The Daily Mail: "The Qatar Foundation who have just clinched a £125m sponsorship deal with Barcelona, have identified the Magpies as a Premier League club they would be interested in acquiring.
"The foundation is a group of gold chip companies from the oil rich nation, who are keen to raise the country's profile ahead of their successful 2022 World Cup campaign.
"Their strategy so far has been to provide charitable investment like the link-up with Barcelona which will provide the Catalan giants with £25m over six years.
"Officially, Ashley has taken the club off the market, but the Buckinghamshire-based sportswear magnate may be willing to sell his controlling stake if a bidder is prepared to cough up at least £200m into a business that he has invested almost £300m."
XMAS PREMIERSHIP FIXTURES
Saturday 18th December 2010
Arsenal v Stoke City 15.00
Birmingham v Newcastle 15.00
Blackburn v West Ham 15.00
Liverpool v Fulham 17.30
Sunderland v Bolton 12.45
Wigan Athletic v Aston Villa 15.00
Sunday 19th December 2010
Blackpool v Tottenham 13.30
Chelsea v Man Utd 16.00
West Brom v Wolves 12.00
Monday 20th December 2010
Man City v Everton 20.00
Sunday 26th December 2010
Aston Villa v Tottenham 17.30
Blackburn v Stoke City 15.00
Blackpool v Liverpool 15.00
Bolton v West Brom 15.00
Everton v Birmingham 15.00
Fulham v West Ham 12.00
Man Utd v Sunderland 15.00
Newcastle v Man City 15.00
Wolves v Wigan Athletic 15.00
Monday 27th December 2010
Arsenal v Chelsea 20.00
Tuesday 28th December 2010
Birmingham v Man Utd 20.00
Man City v Aston Villa 15.00
Stoke City v Fulham 15.00
Sunderland v Blackpool 15.00
Tottenham v Newcastle 15.00
West Brom v Blackburn 15.00
West Ham v Everton 17.30
Wednesday 29th December 2010
Chelsea v Bolton 19.45
Liverpool v Wolves 20.00
Wigan Athletic v Arsenal 19.45
Saturday 01st January 2011
Birmingham v Arsenal 17.30
Liverpool v Bolton 15.00
Man City v Blackpool 15.00
Stoke City v Everton 15.00
Sunderland v Blackburn 15.00
Tottenham v Fulham 15.00
West Brom v Man Utd 12.45
West Ham v Wolves 15.00
Sunday 02nd January 2011
Chelsea v Aston Villa 13.30
Wigan Athletic v Newcastle 16.00
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BIRMINGHAM CITY - St Andrews
Directions & Car Parking
Leave the M6 at Junction 6 and take the A38(M) (known locally as the Aston Expressway) for Birmingham City Centre. Continue past the first turn off (Aston, Waterlinks) and then take the next turn off, for the Inner Ring Road.
Turn left at the island at the top of the slip road and take the Ring Road East, sign posted Coventry/Stratford. Continue along the ring road for two miles, crossing straight across three islands. At the fourth island (there is a large McDonalds on the far left hand corner) turn left into Coventry Road* going towards Small Heath. Birmingham City's ground is about a 1/4 of a mile up this road on your left. The ground is well sign posted on the Inner Ring Road.
There is a small car park directly outside the entrance to the away end, but availability of space for cars is determined by how many away coaches are expected as they park in the same car park, which may mean for certain games that there is no space available for cars at all. There is though plenty of street parking off the left hand side of the ring road. Either around the small park at the third island you cross or along the road next to and behind the BP garage before the fourth island. Bear in mind that if you arrive after 1.30pm these areas are likely to be already full. There are some local schools and firms that offer parking facilities for around £5.
* Please note that the Coventry Road is currently closed to traffic (except away coaches) due to roadworks. So for street parking I would suggest that if you arrive before 1.30pm, then turn left at the previous roundabout (where there is a Big John's outlet) into Garrison Lane and find street parking in this area around the small park. Otherwise if you are later I would turn right at the same roundabout into Great Barr Street and look for street parking on streets leading off this road.
By Train
The nearest station is Bordesley, which is about a ten minute walk away from the ground, but is only served by trains from Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street. Normally scheduled trains do not stop at Bordesley, so they don't show up on national timetables searches. Please download the local timetable from the London Midland website for details.
If you arrive at New Street Station in the city centre, either walk to Moor Street station (five minutes) take a taxi (about £6) or embark on the 20-25 minute walk to the ground.
As you come onto the concourse of New St station, bear to the left of the escalators and through the glass doors. Walk down towards to the end of the Station Service Road. Cross to the other side of the road at the bottom (where there is a new shopping centre) turn right and follow the purple pedestrian signs for Digbeth Coach Station. These will see you descending a flight of stairs at the side of the shopping centre on your left and then going down a road with the Markets on your right and a large church on your left. Follow this road around to the right and then take the next left to take you up to the main dual carriage way. Turn right along the dual carriageway, passing the impressive looking Crown Pub on your left. Cross over the dual carriageway to the Crown pub side of the road and continue walking away from the City Centre. You will come to a fork in the road where you want to bear left going underneath a railway bridge. Passing the Clements Arms on your left just continue straight down this road, crossing a large roundabout (with a McDonalds over on one corner). The entrance to the away section is further up the road on your left.
Otherwise you can take the following buses from the city centre; 57A, 58 & 60. These can be caught near to Moor Street Railway Station on Queensway.
Where To Drink
Most of the pubs near to the ground can be quite intimidating for away supporters and are not recommended. However there is the Brighton pub on the Coventry Road which does tolerate away fans in small numbers. This pub is about a ten minute walk away, going past Woolworths & Morrisons on your left. Simon Lorch a visiting Chelsea fan adds; 'On our last visit to St Andrews, we managed to find a friendly pub within proximity of the ground. The pub is called The Cricketers Arms and is about 10 minutes walk, maybe less. To find the pub (with your back to the away section) walk along the road ahead of you going away from the ground (not the road going right up by the stadium, but the road going towards Woolworths), until you get to Morrisons on your left. You can walk through Morrisons car park heading towards the store then join the road next to it, which is called Little Green Lane. The pub is 30 seconds from there on the left. The pub itself is shared between home and away fans but all the Birmingham fans were very friendly. The pub is small but you can drink outside where there are beer tables'.
It is best to drink in the city centre and get a taxi to the ground (about £6). If you are walking to the ground from the city centre, then you may care to stop at the Anchor Pub on Bradford Street, renowned for its range of real ales on offer, and named Birmingham 'CAMRA Pub Of The Year' on more than one occasion. Although there are a number of Blues fans that frequent the pub they tend to be of the CAMRA bearded variety and therefore as long as you don't turn up mobbed handed, you should be okay. The pub is situated just behind where the Digbeth coach station is being rebuilt. Otherwise alcohol is served within the stadium.
If you coming by train, or decide to drink in the city centre beforehand, then if you like your real ale, then you can't do much better than visit the Wellington Pub on Bennetts Hill. With 16 real ales on tap, including 12 guest ales, this is somewhat of a mecca for real ale drinkers. In 2008 alone, the pub served over 2,000 different beers! To find this pub, then assuming that you are coming into New Street Station by train, then as you come onto the passenger concourse at the station, so straight up the escalators in front of you. At the top of the escalators turn left and then proceed towards the 'Foot Locker' outlet. Turn left at this store and then right and proceed down the ramp past McDonalds. At the bottom of the ramp turn left into New Street and walk along the pedestrian area. Bennetts Hill is the fourth turning on the right (there is a Barclays Bank is on the corner). The Wellington pub is about two thirds of the way up Bennetts Hill on the right hand side. There is also a handy Wetherspoons outlet called the Briar Rose (which is no smoking) on Bennetts Hill as well. The Wellington does not provide food, but has no objections to you bringing in your own. There are a couple of taxi ranks nearby that you can use if you wish to get you to the ground. You can get more info on the Wellington pub website , including a live 'beer board' showing which ales they are currently serving.
Away Fans
Away supporters are housed on one side of the Gil Merrick Stand, which is at one end of the stadium in the lower tier. The normal allocation is 3,000 tickets, but this can be increased to around 4,500 for cup games (when the whole of the lower tier is allocated). There are Birmingham fans housed above the away supporters, as well as to the other side of the stand (fans are separated by plastic netting). The facilities and the view from this stand are pretty good. Apart from the usual array of food on offer, alcohol in form of John Smith's Bitter or Fosters Lager is also available at £3.20 per pint. The Club also offer a 'pie and a pint' for £5.50.
It is worth bearing mind though, that a certain section of Birmingham fans can make for an intimidating atmosphere for away supporters. I would advise as a precaution to keep your club colours covered around the ground or in the city centre.