Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! 

Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Four of this season's League Stage, and we finish up ahead of the international break with another wildly chaotic night with goals galore. We open up by talking about Liverpool, who twice led in Istanbul against Fenerbahçe, but who ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 loss to former Kop cult hero Dirk Kuyt. Real Madrid played out a 3-2 as well, but they were ultimately victorious - this is the Champions League, after all. 

In Part Two we discuss Como's absolute destruction of...

Hello Rank Squad! 

Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Four of this season's League Stage, and we returned to plenty of stories and redemption tales on Tuesday. We open up by talking about Manchester United, out of nowhere, putting on a second half display full of character to come back from 2-0 down and beat Roma 3-2; as well as an astonishing performance from PSG at El Madrigal, where they broke records galore en route to smashing a self-destructing Villarreal 6-0. 

In Part Two we discuss Barcelona returning to winning ways in the competition with a...

Hello Rank Squad! 

We're in the heart of an onslaught of Champions League weeks, but on the one breather we have, we decided it was time to bring back a Ranks classic, in the form of Sacking or Saving Europe's Under-Fire Managers, for the SIXTH time. Once a year, we sit down and analyse those managers currently on the hottest seats, and try to work out whether they need time or the chop. 

Before we get into it though, we discuss Monday's Ballon d'Or ceremony in London, where Harry Kane defied the glitz and glamour to...

Hello Rank Squad!

Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Three of this season's League Stage, to look back at all of Wednesday's action from across all nine games. We begin with the marquee matchup between Bayern Munich and Arsenal at the Allianz, where the spoils were shared 2-2 after a game that both teams will take plenty of positives from. 

From there it's onto Real Madrid, who won 4-1 for the second time in four days, and who finally appear to have found some feel of balance ahead of El Clásico this weekend. This wa...

Hello Rank Squad! 

Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Three of this season's League Stage, and we returned to plenty of goals and fun across all nine games on Tuesday. We open up by talking about the big one between PSG and Barcelona, where the Parisians laid down a marker with a 4-2 win after a truly brilliant game of football between two highly entertaining teams. From there we discuss Stuttgart and Atleti's 1-1 draw where the Germans truly gave Los Colchoneros a fright, before heading onto a couple of seven goal thrillers. 

In Part Tw...

Hello Rank Squad!

Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Two of this season's League Stage, and if Tuesday was fun, Wednesday was an absolute madhouse. We open up by talking about Real Madrid's 4-3 win over Roma, from being 3-1 down with 15 to play, and not having played particularly well for much of it. A tale as old as time, but one that threw up plenty of food for thought.  

From there it's onto Liverpool, who scored six against LASK - including a hat-trick from Bradley Barcola - but left something to be desired defensively. P...

Hello Rank Squad! 

Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Two of this season's League Stage, and we returned to plenty of chaos and action across all nine games on Tuesday. We open up by talking about Manchester United's 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid and how predictable it felt that United performed in the manner that they did - Michael Carrick's seat looks hotter and hotter by the game at the moment. From there it's on to a less predictable story, because in Stavanger in Norway, Viking welcomed one of the pre-tournament favourites in Bayern and played out a...

Hello Rank Squad!

After the thrills and spills of the international break, and after plenty of fun and excitement both on and off the pitch, top flight club football returns with a vengeance this weekend, and today we're taking a look at what we have to look forward to from players, fixtures and storylines that will define these next few weeks. 

Dean starts us off by picking out a few players who have underwhelmed somewhat in the opening weeks of the season, who might just be able to use this international break as a springboard t...

Hello Rank Squad! 

In all truth, this isn't really an episode we wanted to be doing this week - we love talking about the beautiful game, and seeing the best players in the world do what they do best, and neither of us is going to sit here and pretend to be an expert in football litigation and financial matters, although Jack will always do the reading. But after Manchester City were found guilty by the Premier League's independent commission of 114 of the 115 charges levelled against them, it felt wrong to really do anything else. This is p...

Hello Rank Squad!

It's the beginning of the first ever three week international break in the middle of a season, so it felt like a good time to give you the down low on what you should be watching as we turn over the first page in the new international chapter after the summer's World Cup. We talk through some of the biggest storylines, including the USMNT's youth injection, France and Germany's new starts under Zinedine Zidane and Jürgen Klopp respectively, Roberto Mancini's return to the Italian National Team, Lionel Messi's farewell game with Argentina, England s...

Hello Rank Squad!

There's a lot of negativity being thrown around at the moment in the football space (and much of it justifiably so), but today we thought we'd try and flip that narrative a little bit by picking out our star performers from across the season so far, and bring a little positive energy to the sphere whilst we're doing so. 

We pick out five of the best from the Premier League and the European continent in Parts One and Two (with some honourable mentions for good measure), and whilst we're very much aware t...

Hello Rank Squad! 

Three days of Champions League action are now all wrapped up, and what an night we had on Thursday to pull it to a close for around a month - consider the appetite firmly whetted! We start at Old Trafford, where Manchester United were expected to beat newcomers Sabah pretty comfortably, and they did - scoring four without reply to give themselves a much needed confidence booster and get some minutes into the legs of some squad players too. 

Over in Italy, on the shores of the lake, Como were making their Eu...

Hello Rank Squad! 

It's time for your second helping of Champions League Takeaway this week, in what will be a three course meal. Wednesday's action brought a heap of storylines for us to dig into, starting in Part One with Andoni Iraola's first ever Champions League game as a manager, which his Liverpool side turned around to win 2-1 at Anfield over Atletico Madrid. We also take a look at a red-hot Barcelona, who scored five goals for the fourth time this season already (they've played five games), and where Raphinha continued to state his case as t...

Hello Rank Squad! 

It's the return of Champions League Takeaway for a new season - your midnight feast of all the action from the Champions League. As the competition returned, we were treated to a classic at the Bernabeu, with Jose Mourinho playing host to the side with which he won the tournament in this very stadium, and then beat them 2-1 in a classic encounter between Real Madrid and Inter. 

Manchester City's impressive form continued with a 2-0 win away at Porto, who looked like tricky opposition on paper and proved it on pitch, wh...

Hello Rank Squad! 

After a very chaotic Deadline Day, we thought it was for the best that we discussed all of the biggest stories to come out of the window before it slammed shut. We start with Manchester City's deal for Enzo Fernandez, which equals the British Transfer Record set by Alexander Isak, and also makes Enzo the first player ever to have two separate £100m+ transfers in their career. We discuss too the deal that City struck to bring Iliman Ndiaye to the Etihad, as well as how Chelsea tried to replace Enzo - before the La...

Hello Rank Squad!

We have under seven days until the summer transfer window SLAMS SHUT and there is plenty left to do for a whole host of the world's biggest clubs. We walk through all of the big storylines that will help define how this window is considered by fans all over the planet. 

We start with Manchester United, who announced the signing of Carlos Baleba on Tuesday, but who still are in desperate need of a left back to compete with or supplant Luke Shaw in the starting lineup. They want Newcastle's Lewis Hall, b...

Hello Rank Squad!

Here we go again in the Premier League, with the competition kicking off this Friday as Champions Arsenal host newly-promoted Coventry City in the curtain raiser. On today's show, we preview everything you need to know ahead of the new campaign, starting with defending champions Arsenal in Part One, alongside both Manchester United and Manchester City, and new-look Liverpool. 

In Part Two we discuss the serious changes at both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as Unai Emery's Europa League conquerors Aston Villa, who have earned their spot at the top of t...

Hello Rank Squad!

La Liga returns this weekend, and thus it's time for our big preview - even if it feels like mere days since the World Cup ended! We start in Part One with a look at the Big Three - a Barcelona side looking for three league titles in a row, a Real Madrid side now under Jose Mourinho bringing in plenty of new faces to try and overturn the power balance, and an Atletico Madrid under major pressure to close the gap to their El Clasico rivals. 

In Part Two, Jack is j...

Hello Rank Squad!

Jack's taken a much-needed breather before the season gets going again, so the Guru's at the controls and today Dean's cutting through the noise to look at the big six in the Premier League and where their big transfer signings might yet come before the transfer window closes

Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are covered in Part One, before Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea wrap things up in Part Two. 

It's Ranks!

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podc...

Hello Rank Squad! 

It's time to bring the Transfer Guru firmly back into play with the World Cup done and dusted - and Dean's been keeping an eye on the biggest transfers that have taken place both during the tournament and after it finished. With that in mind, we talk through the big deals involved in Tottenham Hotspur's complete revamp, and Manchester United's midfield refresh; before heading onwards to discuss the changes at Chelsea, including Morgan Rogers' British record transfer move, the deal it eclipsed in Elliot Anderson's shift to Manchester City, Real Madrid's defensive rebuild (and w...

Hello Rank Squad! 

We've got a special guest for you today, as we're joined by the man who covered the World Cup like no other - Casey Settleman of Snapback Sports, who went to a World Cup game every day of the tournament, criss-crossing the three host countries and getting acquainted with the 48 fanbases across the tournament. 

Today he joins Jack to look back at the adventure of a lifetime, as well as doing a bunch of mini-rankings to give a better feel for what life was like in the thick of the action. Casey ra...

Hello Rank Squad!

Here's a little bit of a bonus episode looking back at the World Cup final, where Spain triumphed 1-0 over Argentina thanks to a Ferran Torres winner in extra time, as the comprehensively better side on the day lifted the trophy, and opened up the conversation again about a cohesive collective being stronger than the stardust of the individual. We take a look back at both sides of the final and how it played out, taking a couple of questions on each from our Postbox episode on our Patreon. 

We also discuss o...

Hello Rank Squad! 

We're back with our final show from within the 2026 World Cup, looking ahead to the final on Sunday between Spain and Argentina. We take each team individually, reflecting on their performances in their semi-finals and the games leading up to them, discuss how we think this battle might play out, and give some predictions for good measure. 

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of footb...

Hello Ultras! 

There are just eight teams remaining in this World Cup, so with that, there are some teams that are going to be deeply disappointed in their performances - either over the tournament as a whole, or in an individual game performance that saw them eliminated from the competition. We take a look through what we believe to be some of the biggest letdowns of this World Cup up to this point. 

Before that, we discuss Argentina's dramatic and controversial comeback win over Egypt, where we lean on friend of the podcast Usef for hi...

Hello Rank Squad!

Welcome back to another World Cup episode of the show, where we take a look back at the Round of 32. First we say a fond farewell to some of our favourite teams of this tournament, notably Cape Verde after their incredible performance against Argentina, as well as Cote d'Ivoire, and a youthful Australia who surpassed many expectations. 

In Part Two, we examine the two pre-tournament favourites in Spain and France, and see if they still sit in those positions in the pantheon, as well as trying to work out who would fill t...

Hello Rank Squad! 

We decided, given the schedule is a bit mad these days, to try and bring some shorter fun to life here on Ranks FC. Now, we know that the vast majority of our listeners are in the US & England; so we thought that the day after both sides qualified for the Round of 16 - the USMNT with a 2-0 win over Bosnia & Herzogovina, and England with a 2-1 win over DR Congo - that we would take a bit of a deeper dive into these two sides.

We take a look at t...

Hello Rank Squad! 

Now that the second round of games is done and dusted, we're back to examine what we've seen - from both a team and an individual perspective. We start with some of the risers and fallers in the World Cup stakes, examining which countries' stocks have fallen and risen; before turning our attention to the players who have put their own names up in lights ahead of what will undoubtedly be a busy summer of transfer activity. 

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad...

Hello Rank Squad! 

A slightly delayed main episode this week because we wanted to see all 48 nations play at least once in the World Cup before making any sweeping assertions, so here's our take on the first round of games now that every team has seen the pitch! 

In Part One, we start with a look at the pre-tournament favourites who impressed us most in their opening encounters, who lived up to the hype and have got their fanbases very excited. 

In Part Two, we dive into the team performances that got the jui...

Hello Rank Squad!

Here's the final editions of our four World Cup preview shows, where we look through the final three groups and give our thoughts on each of the four teams in each. Jack and Dean are back together to wrap things up from the preview side. 

Starting in Group J we take a look at reigning champions Argentina, discussing whether a very similar squad to 2022 could retain this trophy; before turning our attention to what looks like an intriguing battle between a talented but mostly untested Algeria and an incredibly well-drilled Austria for s...

Hello Rank Squad!

Here's the third of our four World Cup preview shows, where we look through the next three groups and give our thoughts on each of the four teams in each. Jack Collins is joined once more by the returning Dean Jones as we return to regular programming. 

Starting in Group G with a look through Belgium and where the Red Devils are with the golden generation mostly in the rear-view mirror, we then take a look at what looks like a straight duel between Iran and Egypt for a second place spot, a...

Hello Rank Squad!

Here's the second of our four World Cup preview shows, where we look through the next three groups and give our thoughts on each of the four teams in each. Jack Collins is joined by Austin Miller of the extraordinary World Cup After Dark Podcast to keep things ticking over. 

Starting in Group D with a look through the expectations and reality associated with the USMNT ahead of the tournament as well as their strengths and weaknesses, we also take a look at an exceedingly solid Paraguay unit, a fun Türkiye wh...

Hello Rank Squad!

With the domestic season in Europe all wrapped up, it's time to completely lock in to World Cup mode - and so here's the first of our four World Cup preview shows, where we look through the first three groups and give our thoughts on each of the four teams in each. Jack Collins is joined by the brilliant Dougie Critchley to get things started. 

Starting in Group A with one of the host nations Mexico, we also take a look at a stuttering South Korea, hard-nosed Czechia, and an underdog South A...

Hello Rank Squad! 

We thought with the Champions League done and dusted, after PSG beat Arsenal on penalties to retain their crown and become just the second club in the modern era to go back-to-back, it was a good time to give you a little taster of what we get up to on the Patreon feed - where every Monday we answer questions on the action from the weekend just gone, and sometimes far beyond. 

This is a segment from the part of the show where the Champions League final was the main topic, that we...

It's time for The Truth!

Sam and Dougie are back together for one final time to take a look at the first names off the rumour mill this summer which have seriously taken the world of football by storm in the opening week since the domestic season finished. 

We take a look through a number of players to get things going, starting with the deal bringing Newcastle's Anthony Gordon to Barcelona, which looks very much like it'll go through imminently, their reported interest as well in Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez as the Robert Lewandowski replacement, w...

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With the Champions League Final now just around the corner, we take a deep dive into the European football's showpiece event in Budapest, where Mikel Arteta's newly crowned Premier League Champions will take on the reigning European Kings, Luis Enrique's PSG. Starting with the challengers, we examine both teams and where they find themselves ahead of the big game in Istanbul. 

After that, we take a little look back at recent Champions League final history, and what that might mean ahead of this game, to round things off. 

It's Ranks! 

Hello Rank Squad! 

Dougie's in for Dean today and with all the managerial news over the last few days it felt like a very good time to maybe take some stock of some of the biggest stories surrounding some of the biggest jobs in world football changing hands. 

We start with the reports that Pep Guardiola is on his way out at Manchester City after one of the most successful eras we have ever seen in the Premier League, with Enzo Maresca lined up to replace him. It's been an incredible decade where Pep has wo...

It's time for The Truth!

Sam and Dougie are back together in the studio to take a look at those players who have had a bounceback in a big way this season, with their careers rejuvenated in one way or another. 

We wander through six names from across some different leagues, although with a weird Aston Villa thread linking many of them, including two former Carrington graduates, one of whom remains at United and the other who has flown the nest, a Roma striker on absolute fire, an Argentine No 10 having a merry old time i...

Hello Rank Squad! 

We're under a month from the World Cup, and the big showpiece is starting to occupy serious mental space for so many of us. There are only a few squads released so far though, so full previews are going to have to wait a few more weeks; but we thought it was a good time to take a look through some of the favourites and the hosts, and plot out potential routes to the latter stages of the competition. We look at the USMNT, Canada, Mexico, holders Argentina, France, Spain, England, Brazil and Germany a...

It's time for The Truth!

Sam and Dougie are back together to take a look at some potential moves this summer which could come out of left field to shock the world this summer. 

We wander through six names potentially on the move, or whose transfers would cause serious ripples in the market and the news over the course of the transfer window that's coming in. From the Premier League to Serie A, the Bundesliga to La Liga, and well beyond - it's a few madcap ideas and some deals that could annoy at the v...

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You know we've got to the business end of the competition when there's only one Champions League Takeaway a week, so here's your big double serving after the second legs of the semi-finals, which delivered less goals, but no less drama than the first legs, and where PSG and Arsenal booked their tickets to Budapest for the showpiece. 

In Part One, Dean runs us through the 1-1 draw between Bayern and PSG which meant that Luis Enrique's men will have the opportunity to defend their crown after winning 6-5 on aggregate in a...