Newcastle United headlines as fans rush to St James' Park to secure pre-season friendly tickets

Here are the latest Newcastle United evening headlines on Tuesday, July 5.

It's safe to say the atmosphere heading into the upcoming Premier League campaign is one of jubilation on Tyneside.

Eddie Howe's squad have returned for pre-season training and Newcastle have already recruited well so far during the summer transfer window.

Today saw the Magpies pre-season friendly tickets for matches against Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao later this month go on general sale at 10am.

Such was the demand, the online queue saw over 14,000 users trying to grab a ticket at 10.20am with plenty more queuing at the St James' Park box office.

Mainz fans have called upon the German club to scrap their friendly against Newcastle United in Austria.

Newcastle are due to play Mainz later this month, with both sides look to ramp up the intensity ahead of their respective campaigns.

However, Mainz fan group 'Supporters Mainz E.V' wrote an open letter to the German side earlier this week, asking for the club to explain their stance and reasoning for the friendly against Newcastle.

The Bundesliga club have been bombarded with messages in recent days as supporters took issue with the Magpies' Saudi ownership.

"The motive for this was probably less the enthusiasm for football or the identification with the club Newcastle United than the so-called 'sportwashing' - the attempt to polish the image of Saudi Arabia by entering international football," it read.

The proposal was rejected by the German side, with the friendly set to take place on July 18.

Last season, Newcastle United were one of the best teams in the Premier League when it came to set pieces.

According to Opta, Newcastle scored 14 goals from corners and free-kicks last season, which was the