YORK City are looking forward to a bumper crowd for the visit of Premier League Newcastle United on Wednesday, July 29.

Home boss Russ Wilcox is expecting the Magpies to pack the away end at Bootham Crescent in their penultimate pre-season friendly before the start of the 2015/16 top-flight campaign.

The Toon Army are expected to include the likes of Senegal striker Papiss Cisse and Holland goalkeeper Tim Krul in their ranks, while York-born, former England boss Steve McClaren could be in the opposition dugout with speculation growing that he could be the North-East giants’ next manager.

Newcastle will also play Sheffield United three days before on their return from a tour in the United States and, after facing City, wrap up their warm-up programme with a home meeting against Borussia Monchengladbach.

On the prospect of tackling the St James’ Park outfit, Wilcox said: “I made contact with lots of clubs about friendlies hoping to get a yes. We were going through our book and seeing who might be available because we wanted to try and get some exciting games for the fans and this one will be, especially with Newcastle having retained their Premier League status.

“I know Sheffield Wednesday brought about 2,000 fans last pre-season and, knowing Newcastle supporters, they travel everywhere to watch their team, so they are likely to bring a couple of thousand and, hopefully, our supporters will match that.”

The Newcastle game is the third pre-season friendly to be confirmed following announcements that City will travel to Darlington on Tuesday, July 14 and Halifax on Saturday, August 1.

Wilcox has also revealed that City’s players will visit Champneys Springs Health Resort in Leicestershire for a mini-break to avoid monotony during preparations for the new season.

He added: “We will be going to Champneys for four days. It's really good there and the facilities are outstanding.

“There's a terrific football pitch, great gym, a swimming pool and a games room, where the lads can relax together. We're going there on July 20 because I want to break things up a bit.

“People usually go away early in pre-season but I think the whole thing can seem too long as a player and it's better to go away right in the middle of it. We can also re-evaluate where we are fitness wise and see what we still need to do.

“I've been there before so know what to expect. It's nice to go abroad sometimes and do something different but, although Champneys is not a million miles away, it gets us away from the day-to-day routine.”