England boss Gareth Southgate has admitted he would have liked to have played a friendly game at St James' Park ahead of EURO 2020.
The Three Lions beat Austria 1-0 in the first of two friendlies at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium ahead of this summer's European Championships on Wednesday evening, thanks to a Bukayo Saka goal.
England take on Romania on Sunday before heading back to Wembley for next Sunday's EURO 2020 opener against Croatia.
St James' Park last hosted England in their 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in 2005 and while discussing their decision to take in the warm up fixtures in the North East, Southgate revealed he would have liked to have headed to Newcastle for that fixture.
"The initial decisions come from the FA," Southgate said.
"They wanted to take the team to the North East and we were hoping to play at Newcastle as well.
"If we had the opportunity with full stadiums and without having to set the stadiums up for Covid, we would have liked to have used both stadiums.
"When I knew we were coming to the North East, I knew the training facilities here were a fabulous environment.
"It has been great and very relaxed for the boys."
