Skip to main content
Loading market data…
SoccerverseSoccerverse

Soccerverse Times

The Voice of the Virtual Pitch

← All news
Breaking news25 Oct 2026714 views

SEASON OVER FOR DERBY'S PHILLIPS, AND TOYOTA'S NEW BOSS IS GONE IN 134 MINUTES

Kane and Olise hurt, St. Pauli lose a 119-game manager before breakfast, Fenerbahce lock down Fofana, and protagonist puts a third lot of cash into Ajax in seven days

Written by

Sarah

Soccerverse Times' transfer & markets reporter — a southerner with breaking-news instincts who checks the deal before she shouts it.

SEASON OVER FOR DERBY'S PHILLIPS, AND TOYOTA'S NEW BOSS IS GONE IN 134 MINUTES

Nathaniel Phillips is out until 13 January. The season finishes on 2 January.

Derby's 79-rated centre-back picked up an 81-day major injury in Saturday's 2-1 win at Sheffield Red, which rules him out for the rest of the season. Derby are third in ENG Division 2 on 40 points, six behind Carlisle in second, and they'll have to chase promotion without him.

That's the worst news in a busy few days. Since Thursday the game's news feed has logged 1,794 injuries, 413 contract renewals and 83 managerial appointments, and some of those appointments didn't last long.

The treatment room

  • Barcelona. Harry Kane (97) has a six-day knock from Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Valencia. He's due back on 30 October, so he misses Monday's Continental League trip to Podgorica Blue but should be fit for Girona on the 31st.
  • Bayern. Michael Olise (96) is out for five days and due back on 29 October, in time for Hoffenheim's visit. Separately, his contract shows one season left, he wants two and his morale reads "so so". That's one for DerKaiser to sort out.
  • Coventry. Soumaïla Coulibaly (84, CB) is out until 21 November. Coventry are 19th in ENG Division 1 on 17 points, seven from safety.
  • Firenze. 19-year-old Giovanni Leoni (84) is out until 22 November. Firenze are 16th on 23 points, level with Udine in 18th.
  • Como and Genk. Como's goalkeeper Robin Roefs (87) is due back on 12 November and Genk's Bryan Heynen (84) on 17 November. Como are sixth in Italy and Genk are second in Belgium.

All change in the dugout

St. Pauli. FrostyOrbit resigned at 05:47 on Sunday after 119 games (42 wins, 38 draws, 39 losses) going back to May 2025. It was his only job in the game. This went up in the #jobs channel 33 seconds before the resignation:

Leaving St. Pauli and looking for a new job!

— cosmicfrozenorbit

LeanPaul was in charge by 10:39. He had taken the Iloilo City job on Saturday night and left it less than 14 hours later without managing a game. St. Pauli are 13th in the Bundesliga.

Toyota. They're bottom of JPN Division 1 with 6 points from 19 games, seven behind Suita. WawanKolev resigned at 04:15 on Sunday after nine games: one win, one draw and seven defeats. faiz took over at 12:11 and left for Lija in Malta at 14:25. That's 134 minutes. Toyota have now had six managers since RedDragon left on 12 September, and the job is empty again.

faiz has been appointed nine times since Thursday: Ajman (twice), Biskra, Eastern Cape, Calama, Chennai, Baghdad Karkh, Toyota and Lija. That's eight clubs in eight countries, and his record shows no matches managed at any of them.

New contracts

  • Fenerbahce gave 21-year-old Malick Fofana (82) a new four-season deal on Saturday afternoon. It came shortly after a 1-1 draw at Goztepe in which Frederico Rodrigues (90) and Thiago Almada (87) were both sent off for second yellows, so both miss Fatih's visit on 31 October. Fener are second, six points behind Galata. Fofana's agent, protagonist, is also the club's biggest holder with 223,179 shares.
  • Toluca signed João Dias Fernandes (86) for two more seasons on Thursday. Jesús Angulo Uriarte (79) and Jesús Gallardo Vasconcelos (77) also renewed.
  • Wolverhampton renewed Ndemeni Meupiyou Menadjou (78) for two seasons. They're still the richest club in the game, with 394.5M SVC.

The money

  • Ajax. Another 8.25M SVC cash injection landed at 18:35 on Saturday, paid in by protagonist, their biggest holder (169,952 shares). He also put in 15M last Sunday and 9.75M on Wednesday, so that's 33M SVC from one backer in seven days. The Eredivisie leaders are four points clear of Feyenoord and have 24.4M in the bank.
  • Sutton. ODEEisOG, who is both the manager and the biggest holder, put in 2.25M on Thursday. Sutton have won six in a row, lead ENG Division 4 by 16 points and have 36.5M in the bank.
  • The Dee. They paid A Cali 4.78M for Alfredo Alanoca Choque, a 71-rated, 30-year-old right-back valued at 398K. That's exactly 12 times his value. A Cali listed him at that price on Friday morning and The Dee's bid, the only one, went through at 22:28. The fee took their balance from 6.28M to 1.50M. On Saturday evening their two biggest holders added 750K from protagonist and 1.125M from ODEEisOG, 36 seconds apart. The balance is now 3.43M.

Still to come: who takes the Toyota job, whether Bayern give Olise a new deal, and how Derby get on without Phillips.

Related Topics

Breaking newsDerbyBarcelonaBayernNathaniel PhillipsHarry KaneFrostyOrbitcosmicfrozenorbit

In the tables

TUR Division 1

TUR · Division 0 · Season 4

#ClubPGDPts
1GalataRivald028+4769
2Fenerbahceimpaler28+4063
3Samsunfunk5528+2051
4BesiktasHeiner28+546
5KasimpasaEnzito192428+246
6FatihForceBuilder28+445
7KocaeliPeter99928+942
8KonyaRalfblanPTgamer28+541
9Sakaryafunk5428-441
10AntalyaMugen28+740
11KayseriCervezero28+739
12Bursadedektif1128-336
13BasaksehirWillyAlba28-535
14EyüpsultanRoland1nh0DT228-632
15RizeKloV728-331
16HatayVIRIATUS28-430
17Ankara Behiçbeyankarademirspor28-730
18TrabzonPuglist28-827
19GoztepeBigMeldrum28-1327
20AlanyaCoventry28-2325
21GaziantepMisterAnsiao28-2520
22SivasRamp28-4514

ENG Division 2

ENG · Division 1 · Season 4

#ClubPGDPts
1SunderlandManolito1024+2650
2CarlisleTheWarden24+2646
3Derbyderby24+1543
4SouthamptonFoxtrot24+940
5CardiffIhlen24+739
6MillwallRaicho24+1138
7MiddlesbroughXNLC24+338
8BirminghamGaLLo24+434
9West BromwichMassa12324+433
10Lutonapaporcio124-1030
11PortsmouthPantheonCommander24-129
12Prestonromeo24-928
13NorwichYassirCR724-527
14HuddersfieldLiam24-827
15Wolverhamptonblade24-1727
16Bristol RedDevilman8824-626
17IpswichHarris Australia24-1026
18WrexhamWez24+124
19BurnleySabo24-1724
20Sheffield RedBuySell24-2316

League standings for the clubs in this story.

Our Partners