Phillips represented nine clubs during his 20-year playing career, including Watford, Sunderland, Southampton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Birmingham.

He scored a total of 287 goals, won eight caps for England and in 2000 became the first English player to win Europe’s Golden Shoe award. Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane became the second English winner last season.

Since retiring in 2014, he has held coaching roles with Leicester City, Derby County and Stoke City before a 15-month stint at South Shields, who he led to promotion into the National League North in his second season in charge in 2022-23.

Phillips had expected to remain at Hartlepool this season but claimed the club had withdrawn a contract offer in order to appoint former Woking boss Darren Sarll instead.

Phillips will be assisted by Wess Brown, who he worked with at South Shields.

Ben Tollitt scored twice as Morecambe won a six-goal thriller against Nottingham Forest Under-21s to qualify for the EFL Trophy knockout stages.

The Shrimps, who are rooted to the bottom of League Two without a win, were among five teams to confirm their progression from the group stage after they ran out 4-2 winners against Forest at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium.

Fin Back put the visitors in front midway through the first half before Tollitt levelled three minutes ahead of the break.

Morecambe’s Paul Lewis turned into his own net shortly after half-time but Charlie Brown and Hallam Hope struck twice in 11 minutes to complete the turnaround. Tollitt then scored his second and the hosts’ fourth late on to seal victory.

League Two AFC Wimbledon scored a dramatic 96th-minute winner away at League One Crawley Town to win 4-3 and go through from Southern Group B.

The Wombles were leading 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining but were remarkably pegged back before Joe Pigott struck with almost the last kick of the game.

A Jordan Hugill double and a goal from Esapa Osong saw Rotherham United beat Newcastle United Under-21s 3-1 to make it out of Northern Group H with two wins.

Wrexham cruised through with a comfortable 3-0 win over Wolves Under-21s thanks to goals from Lewis Brunt, Paul Mullin and Modou Faal.

Victory for the Red Dragons means Port Vale also qualify from the same group without kicking a ball on Tuesday night.

Crewe Alexandra will also be in the hat for the last 32 of the competition after Calum Agius netted in the 30th minute as they beat fellow League Two side Harrogate Town 1-0.

It was Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor’s first game in charge of the club in the Women’s Champions League so she was pleased to get off to a winning start.

The Frenchwoman has won the competition three times, twice as a player and once as a manager with former club Lyon.

But she said on Monday that the postponement of Chelsea’s Women’s Super League match against Manchester United – due to be played on Sunday – impacted their preparation.

They had not played a competitive fixture in 10 days when they lined up at Stamford Bridge to face Real and were hit by illness in the squad this week.

“We have to play with a lot of intensity. I don’t want to find excuses but maybe because we didn’t play for 10 days, it’s something that can help you understand why tonight we were a little bit down,” said Bompastor.

“We scored the two goals but the players were not working as hard as I wanted them to work on the pitch.

“When we had the ball we were just walking to get the ball which is not enough. If you want to possess the ball, you have to run a lot.”

Bompastor also said she wanted her side to “manage the game more” after sloppiness let Real back into the game.

“When I say manage the game, it’s not about slowing it down, but being smarter,” added Bompastor.

“When you begin the game with two goals, it’s good to keep that result. We conceded two goals where we maybe could have done better.

“We were a bit nervous about Madrid getting stronger. I would like us to manage the game better.”

Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo is attracting interest, Kevin de Bruyne could be set for a move to Saudi Arabia, while Liverpool are hopeful of keeping Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo, 24, is attracting interest from Liverpool, Newcastle United and Tottenham after the Ghana attacker’s impressive start to the season. (Give Me Sport), external

Saudi club Al-Nassr are confident of signing Manchester City’s Belgium midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, 33, when his contract expires at the end of the season. (Team Talk), external

Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, could be convinced to run down his contract at Anfield to join Real Madrid on a free transfer by England team-mate Jude Bellingham. (Sun), external

Real Madrid are stepping up their interest in Alexander-Arnold but Liverpool are hopeful they can convince the 26-year-old to stay. (Football Insider), external

Liverpool have identified Eintracht Frankfurt’s Egypt forward Omar Marmoush, 25, and Borussia Dortmund’s Germany attacker Karim Adeyemi, 22, as potential replacements for Egypt winger Mohamed Salah, 32. (Sky Germany – in German), external

Manchester United’s hopes of signing Colombia midfielder Richard Rios have improved, with Palmeiras willing to consider selling the 24-year-old for 20m euros (£16.7m) in January. (Caught Offside), external

Arsenal and Manchester United are tracking Wigan Athletic’s 22-year-old English goalkeeper Sam Tickle as they look to bolster their goalkeeping options. (Team Talk), external

Southampton’s hierarchy are set to meet to discuss manager Russell Martin’s future at the club. (Football Insider), external

Paris St-Germain’s France striker Randal Kolo Muani, 25, could leave in January but the Ligue 1 champions want at least 70m euros (£59m) for him. (AS – in Spanish), external

Bayer Leverkusen and Germany forward Florian Wirtz, 21, is keen to join Bayern Munich next summer. (Sky Germany – in German), external

Newcastle United are continuing to monitor Lille’s Canada striker Jonathan David, 24, as a potential January transfer target. (Football Insider), external

Hugo Viana, director of football at Portuguese side Sporting, is Manchester City’s favoured candidate to replace the outgoing Txiki Begiristain in the same role at the Premier League champions. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Palmer is the first Chelsea player to receive the recognition since Ashley Cole in 2010. Frank Lampard also won the award while at the Blues.

Arsenal’s Saka was named men’s player of the year in the past two seasons, while Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham are also past winners.

Past winners:

2023-24 – Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

2022-23 – Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

2021-22 – Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

2020-21 – Kalvin Phillips (Leeds)

2019 – Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)

2018 – Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

2017 – Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

2016 – Adam Lallana (Liverpool)

2015 – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

2014 – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

2012 – Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

2011 – Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur)

2010 – Ashley Cole (Chelsea)

2009 – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

2008 – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

2007 – Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

2006 – Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)

2005 – Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

2004 – Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

2003 – David Beckham (Manchester United)