Newcastle United manager Rafa BenÃ­tez was a surprise guest at the club's Fans Forum evening at St. James' Park

Newcastle United manager Rafa BenÃ­tez was a surprise guest at the club's Fans Forum evening at St. James' Park on Wednesday.

BenÃ­tez made his impromptu appearance during a scheduled meeting between supporters and club officials inside the stadium's Sir Bobby Robson Suite and remained for around 45 minutes for an informal chat.



Aside from a visit from the manager, a range of topics were on the agenda at the Forum, ranging from the club's ongoing digital development project - which will see the club designing and launching a brand new website later in 2016 - to membership, shirt sponsorship and training ground developments.



While detailed Fans Forum minutes will be published at www.nufc.co.uk in coming days, the club confirmed during the meeting that it will be making away tickets available on general sale for selected fixtures during this season following supporter requests.

Season ticket holders and members will continue to enjoy priority access to all away match tickets as normal throughout the 2016/17 campaign, with demand expected to be extremely high for most fixtures.

However, should away tickets not completely sell out during designated priority sale periods, the club will make them available to all fans where possible.

To find out more about the Fans Forum, please visit http://www.nufc.co.uk/page/Fans/FansForumIndex.