Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! Some extra love coming at you this week as we take a dive into the breaking news of the day - where it looks like Mauricio Pochettino is close to becoming the new Chelsea manager. We take a look into why he's accepted the job at this point, what Chelsea have promised him as a project, who he might look to sign in the summer, how his team could set up, his relationships with Direc...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we had the second legs of the quarter finals and locked in our final four. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a...

There are just a couple of matches left in most domestic leagues in Europe, meaning that it's now or never for a lot of things. Title races, relegation scraps, promotion tussles - there's absolutely loads left to play for across the continent. On today's episode we look at the most exciting things left to play for this season - from Arsenal vs. Manchester City and Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmu...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we had our first round of quarter final matches. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that w...

Hello Rank Squad! It's always good to take stock of players at this point in the season, so we thought we'd do something fun - and try to work out the best front three we could build from each of the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1, before pitting those against each other to determine an ultimate winner. As you can imagine, consensus was tricky to come by in a world that c...

Hello Rank Squad! Club football is back with a bang, and so is the return of the Champions League, which will get to its quarter final stage (or as Sam calls it, 'the best bit in football') next week. We wanted to get the jump on it, looking at each team and ranking them in likelihood of them winning the competition this year - will it be Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Napoli, Milan, Inter...

Hello Rank Squad! It's been a week of consternation in the managerial world, from last week's bolt from the blue coming out of Bayern Munich, where Julian Nagelsmann was replaced by Thomas Tuchel in the Bavarian hot seat; whilst on Sunday night news broke that Antonio Conte and Tottenham Hotspur had parted ways also. We start at Spurs, where we discuss what comes next for Tottenham and how Daniel...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the International Break, and so we wanted to take a look at a couple of players who look like they could change their respective nation's fortunes over the coming years. We talk about Turkey's Arda Guler, Ireland's Evan Ferguson, Belgium's Romeo Lavia, Israel's Oscar Gloukh and the big bad wolf himself - Norway's Erling Braut Haaland; to discuss how their skillsets could lau...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we locked in the final four teams in those quarter-final slots. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of ev...

Hello Rank Squad! Today we have a special guest joining us to provide you with some insights into what actually goes down in the smoke and mirrors world that is scouting - Lee Scott, who is Chief Scout at Vélez CF. Lee has worked with a host of clubs in world football, including his hometown club of Aberdeen, was a co-founder of Total Football Analysis, and has written three books as well, meaning...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as the first four teams booked their quarter-final slots. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything...

Hello Rank Squad! We're going a little bit abstract this week, to think about what defines each of Europe's Top 5 leagues in their current state, and then try to apply that criteria to work out which player (currently in the league) best represents that league right now. We take a trip through the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, the Premier League and Ligue 1 to find those who carry the spirit of th...

Hey Rank Squad! As we’re no doubt sure you heard on last week’s episode, we’ve opened 1-month free trials for our Patreon in March. That means you can sign up for nothing and sample what we do over there, enjoying 2 extra episodes a week and getting a real sense of the community and togetherness we’ve built. This episode is a 15-minute snippet of our traditional Monday Postbox episode, where we re...

Hello Rank Squad! It's that time again, and we're mixing things up this week! With the media's attention firmly locked on the PL title race, the Champions League and an imminent El Clasico, we wanted to explore some big storylines perhaps sliding under the radar. So Sam's set Dean & Jack to work on five big questions left across Europe - who will be the worst team across the Top 5 leagues, which t...

Hello Rank Squad! Our new show is back for Round 2 - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we finished off the first legs in the Round of 16. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lense, to give you a sense of everything that we learne...

Hello Rank Squad! It's a big episode today because we're taking a look through each of Europe's Top Five leagues and their Golden Boot races, to see what we can learn from who leads the scoring charts in each country. We start in the Premier League, talking Arsenal sharing the goals out and Erling Haaland's remarkable consistency. Then we head to Italy to discuss Napoli's dynamic duo of Osimhen an...

Hello Rank Squad! We're here with a new show - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we returned to European action in the Round of 16. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lense, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from...

Hello Rank Squad! With the Champions League in full swing this week we wanted to change up the pace a little bit, and go a tad more evergreen - revisiting an old favourite that we'd had more than a few requests to look at again. Back in one of our first ever episodes, we ranked every Premier League captain on their current playing ability, but that was two and a half years ago, so it was worth a n...

Hello Rank Squad! The Champions League is back next week and we're here to make sense of it all - going through each of the eight matchups to determine who is in the better position to advance, discussing their strengths and weaknesses, and taking a peek at the teams we think are favourites to lift that famous trophy by the time we get to May. There's a lot of ground to cover! Part One sees us loo...

Hello Rank Squad! Yesterday brought the January Transfer Window crashing to a halt, with Chelsea going big once again, some smart signings across the board and some moments of madness as well. We take a look back at the big questions - who "won" the window, which permanent transfers will have the most impact in this second half of the season, and which loans topped a very impressive list. We talk...

Hello Rank Squad! It's a special episode today - with our beloved Transfer Guru absent we are joined by long-term friend of the pod and Tifo Football star Jon Mackenzie, to talk through five deals which have maybe flown under the radar of most football fans. They're all under the age of 21, they all cost a fair bit of money, and they all add something new to their respective clubs. With the Premie...

What's good, Rank Squad! We're back for another tryst into the chaos of the January transfer window, trying to make sense of everything that's going on around us. Today, we take a look at five players who are potentially on the market and could make a huge difference to a new club in the second half of this season. We start with Ferran Torres, who is linked to Arsenal (again), as a potential alter...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for our rehousing episode - where we take a look at five players who are unwanted, underused or unloved at their current clubs, and find new homes for them to thrive in. This January, we're talking about Tottenham's Japhet Tanganga, PSG's Keylor Navas, Barcelona's Memphis Depay, Lyon's Houssem Aouar and Roma's Rick Karsdorp, alongside a whole host of honourable mentions...

Hello Rank Squad, and Happy New Year! The transfer window is only a few days old, and yet plenty of clubs have already got themselves involved in the mire - with some big names already having shifted on to horizons new. We take a look at five deals already complete and dig into the analysis of whether they're good, bad, indifferent or important. We talk Max Wöber to Leeds United, David Datro Fofan...

Hello Rank Squad! It's nearly the New Year, so it's time to get back talking transfers ahead of the window opening - and who better to guide you through it than our very own Transfer Guru Dean Jones, who has the lowdown on five of the biggest storylines you need to be watching closely as transfer business swings back into life. There's also a quick chat about Cody Gakpo's move to Liverpool, Matheu...