Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad!  We're now a couple of matchdays into the new season and some interesting trends are starting to rear their head in different capacities. Today, we take a look through some of the things to be keeping an eye on this season, the storylines that might prove to be pretty important come the end of this campaign.  We start in the Premier League with a discussion of the newly promoted...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to take a look at the concept of the Bundesliga Tax - the idea that it is more difficult for players who come from the German top flight, to establish themselves as successful in the Premier League - something often thrown around on social media.  So, what is it, does it genuinely exist, and what are the examples and evidence that you...

Hello Rank Squad! We are back in business for the Champions League and there's plenty to discuss. We start with Thursday's action, where Marcus Rashford inspired Barcelona to a 2-1 win at St James' Park; before moving on to Manchester City's win over Napoli - which was fairly routine after Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off. We wrap up big wins for Eintracht and Sporting, before looking at Leverkuse...

Hello Rank Squad! The first day brought us 23 goals, and plenty of talking points, and Jack and Dean are here to discuss all of them with you after the first six games. We start with the game of the night - Juventus 4-4 Borussia Dortmund - where drama abounded in a goal-drenched second half; as well as looking at Arsenal's 2-0 win at San Mames, seeing off Athletic Club in what was a pretty much pe...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to dive into the incredibly chaotic summer that occurred at Newcastle United - headlined by the saga that surrounded Alexander Isak's eventual move to Liverpool, but that also saw an incoming holdout in Yoane Wissa; multiple targets move elsewhere until it became an internet meme; one of the most unique players in world football in Nic...

Hello Rank Squad! The window is shut, there's been a few games to see how teams look, and it's time to finalise our long-term predictions for this season, which can only mean one thing here on Ranks - it's time for 5x5! After a diverging night for Jack and Dean on the international stage, we settle back in on club matters to try and keep things in check.  The concept is simple - we each pick how w...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in business for the new campaign alongside Jack, and they begin the season with a look back at the transfer window, taking stock of the signings that could end up being the difference between success and failure for a multitude of different clubs.  We start with a little chat about each of our clubs - Sunderland, Aston Villa and Fulham - catching up...

Hello Rank Squad!  With the chaos of the transfer window now safely in the rear-view mirror, we take a look back at an incredible wild Deadline Day and examine who came out of it looking stronger than they did at the weekend.  Firstly, Dean takes a look back at how his Deadline Day unfolded, and compared it to a good many years of covering the busiest day in any transfer journalist's calendar; bef...

Hello Rank Squad! As Deadline Day approaches, there's still a lot of business that feels like it needs to be done in the market - perhaps more so than ever before. We take a look through the biggest deals remaining in the Premier League ahead of the window slamming shut, working through club by club to hit the big stories.  We start with Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City - three teams...

Hello Rank Squad!  Whilst the Premier League previews dominated our thoughts last week, we haven't forgotten that there's plenty of excitement taking place elsewhere as well, and so this week we're turning our attention to Spain, where La Liga got underway this weekend.  In Part One, Jack and Dean look through the big three of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, taking stock of their trans...

Hello Rank Squad!  Here's the second half of our Premier League preview, where we flip down the bottom of the table, examining the three newly promoted sides in the shape of Burnley, Sunderland and Leeds United - and whether any of them can defy the gravitational pull that has seen the last six teams who have come up from the Championship all go straight back down.  We look at the teams who they'l...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for the first half of our Premier League preview, where we take a look at the top of the table - can Liverpool go back to back as Champions for the first time in 40 years, or will the revolution at Anfield take more time to settle down than they might imagine? Is Arsenal's stability enough to take them over the line? Will Pep Guardiola embrace the chaos with Pep Lijnde...

Hello Rank Squad!  We figured that with the new season drawing in, we'd start to draw a few conclusions of our own regarding where teams are right now - and what might happen over the next 10 months - so without being too wild, we've picked out a few bold opening statements each that we think reflect where the situation lies at this point in time.  Dean goes first to pick out five warm takes that...

Hello Rank Squad!  A slightly different take on the transfer window so far on today's show, because Jack has wrested the show plan off Dean to discuss some of the teams we haven't quite had time to deep dive on so far this summer. So, in the light of looking at very interesting windows that we've seen across Europe, it's time to scour some of the teams who have had the busiest starts to the summer...

Hello Rank Squad!  In the last few days we've seen deals for Hugo Ekitike, Marcus Rashford and Viktor Gyökeres come to fruition (or close enough as not to matter). So, how do those signings for Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal affect their fates? We discuss those in Part One.  Then, in Parts Two and Three, we move on to the deals not yet done, with Dean picking a host of other players out whose po...

Hello Rank Squad! It's been a busy summer already - teams participating in the Club World Cup, plenty of big business, managers on the move, new stadiums and plenty more; so we want to look at the teams who are going to look very different to the end of last season when we get going in earnest again. We start with a look at the CWC Final, where Chelsea showed that they might well be a different be...

Hello Rank Squad!  After Dean kept the streak alive last week (it's now the 339th week in a row where there's been a Ranks episode, shouts out DJ), Jack's back from marital bliss to take ahold of the reins again - and after a brief discussion about the festivities and the differing football mindsets of the younger generation of Jones', we head into our main ranking.  Dean and Jack both pick a few...

Hello Rank Squad! It's a Dean Jones solo special with Jack off doing marital bliss, so there's a different feel to today's episode, where DJ is taking things solo to discuss the Club World Cup and some of the ways it might affect the football we know.  There's some discussion on the fermentation of cross-federation rivalries and why ticket prices need to be considered far more ahead of a second it...

Hello Rank Squad! It's Jack's last episode as a Bachelor, and we thought we'd take a look at some transfers to send him off blissfully into wedded life. Liverpool have signed Florian Wirtz, breaking the British Transfer Record in doing so, and we discuss his arrival at Anfield and how he might fit into Arne Slot's Champion Reds next season.  That gives us a launchpad to talk about some of the othe...

Hello Rank Squad! Today we're diving back into the murky depths of the transfer market, and looking at some of the potential deals that are being discussed right now. It's a seller's market, in so many ways, and that often means that teams will overpay for players - whether through a gamble on a major talent, a burning need to fill a gap, or because they're absolutely hellbent on trying to turn th...

Hello Rank Squad! The (first) Transfer Window has officially closed, but there's been plenty of activity on the managerial merry-go-round across Europe, with new faces taking over at new places - to the delight of some and the chagrin of others. On today's episode we're looking at a number of new bosses and analysing how we think they fit their new home.  We start with the most recent appointment...

Hello Rank Squad!  The footballing summer is officially here, with the Champions League Final crowning what has been a pretty unbelievable season in Europe all round. We start today's episode with the final word on that final, where Luis Enrique's brilliant PSG absolutely dismantled Inter in one of the all-time great showpiece performances.  Then, it's onto the talk of the summer - transfer season...

It's time for The Truth!  For the last time this season, Sam and Dougie convene in the studio to record, and for the season finale, they're looking back at the first year of the podcast - what they got right, what they got wrong, and some of the best bits as well.  Picking for each other, the boys choose a Best Take, Worst Take, Most Enlightening Take and Most Surprising Take from the year just go...

Hello Rank Squad! With the conclusion at the weekend of the domestic campaigns still running, we thought it was a good time to look back on the season just gone and hand out some awards for the best (and worst) of what we've seen across the board.  We start by talking about our favourite stories of this season, where we both plump for underdogs turning their seasons around, before we head into the...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at the Club World Cup, set to kick off just a couple of weeks after the European season ends. The tournament has divided fans and pundits alike, with some seeing it as a bizarre power play from FIFA to try and rival the riches of the Champions League, whilst others feel that it's an opportunity to spread the game's wealth on a more even ke...