Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

It's time for The Truth! Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley take a look into the career of Paul Pogba, the reasons he ended up in a four-year-ban from the game, and what the future holds for him now that the ban has been reduced to 18 months - meaning he can return to football in March 2025. We look at the traits that made Pogba such a joyful experience to watch on the pitch, as well as those which fr...

Hello Rank Squad! It's tough out there as a manager. You can be winning trophies and be the designated Chosen One one minute, and then on the verge of losing your job the next. It's brutal, but it's the way football works, so we wanted to revisit an old staple and take a look at some of the managers under the cosh this season, and what the future holds for them. We start with the big discussion po...

It's time for The Truth! Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley dive into a topic that opens up some uncomfortable questions about the way that the English league system operates - is it becoming impossible in the modern game for newly-promoted sides to survive in the Premier League? In 2022/23, Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town were promoted from the Championship, and in 2023/24, all three were re...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your midnight feast of Champions League content after the main meal was served up on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights by the new 36-team competition.  We start with Tueday's games, opening on Aston Villa's already-famous win over Bayern Munich, where Unai Emery hurt Bayern again, and we saw a repeat scoreline of the 1982 European Cup fina...

Hello Rank Squad! In the wake of the injury to Rodri that looks set to keep him out for the majority of the season, it got us thinking about a topic that's been a bit of a Ranks staple down the years - who is the most important player for a variety of teams across Europe? We start in the Premier League, examining options for Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, before turning our attention to t...

It's time for The Truth! Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley take a look back through the annals of history to analyse the career of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and ask the question - was he a world class striker in the pantheons of the all-time greats, or just an excellent player in his day? Zlatan has long divided opinion, even in a world before the hyper-sensationalisation of social media that we see today....

Hello Rank Squad!  We're going on a bit of a trip down memory lane in today's episode, but one grounded in a very recent occasion - the game between Manchester City and Arsenal at the weekend, which had many of the hallmarks of the beginning of a new rivalry reaching its simmering point at the top of the division.  With that in mind, we take a look at the game and the narratives surrounding it, be...

It's time for The Truth! Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley sit down to discuss a topic that's been circulating across social media, broadcast radio and YouTube for quite some time - the idea that Pep Guardiola has somehow ruined the game that we love, in the process of changing it amidst his dominance of Europe.  We explore the ideas that are often used to berate Pep - that he is responsible for the...

Hello Rank Squad! You heard the music, and we're back in Champions League mode as the newest era of the competition gets underway with the new Swiss League stage replacing the old group stages. This is Part Two of your Takeaways from this week, looking back at the action from Wednesday and Thursday night.  We start with Arsenal's trip to Bergamo, where David Raya's heroics meant that Arsenal came...

Hello Rank Squad! You heard the music, and we're back in Champions League mode as the newest era of the competition gets underway with the new Swiss League stage replacing the old group stages. The first day brought us plenty of goals, and plenty of talking points, and Jack and Dean are here to discuss all of them with you after the first six games of this matchweek.  We start with Liverpool's tri...

It's time for The Truth! Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley sit down to discuss one of the burning questions of the international break - whether Erik ten Hag is the man who can guide Manchester United back to where they want to be, challenging for league titles and competing consistently in the Champions League.  United's summer was a chaotic one, starting with the new INEOS-backed ownership flutteri...

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! And, as has become tradition for this episode, the Rank God Sam Tighe is back in the building to share the microphone with Dean and Jack. The concept is simple - we each pick how w...

It's time for The Truth! Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley sit down to discuss the hottest topic in the world of football right now - whether Chelsea's transfer strategy is a 4D Chess plan that will leave others in the dust, or a chaotic playground of excess that's destined to struggle for some time.  Chelsea's additions of João Felix, Jadon Sancho, Pedro Neto, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Kiernan De...

Hello Rank Squad! There's a new show starting on the Channel from this Friday, and it heralds the return of Rank God Sam Tighe to Ranks FC. Sam's new podcast, which he's co-hosting with the brilliant Dougie Critchley, who you might know from Sky Sports and Football Daily - as well as being on Ranks a few times in the past!  The podcast is called The Truth, and Sam's here to explain the concept, in...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for us to take our previewing over to Italy, where we've seen an intriguing first couple of weeks in Serie A - where 14 of the 20 clubs changed managers this summer. We start by analysing those we think will be challenging for the title - starting with reigning Scudetto Champions Inter, moving on to Juventus and their new manager Thiago Motta, taking a look at Napoli u...

Hello Rank Squad! We're back (and icing our league previews series for a week) to take a look at the big storylines dominating the Premier League transfer landscape ahead of the transfer window closing on Friday. Dean walks us through the headlines for each of the Premier League's top eight from last year - Arsenal's search for a forward, Manchester City's desire for an Alvarez replacement, Manche...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for us to take our previewing over to Spain, where La Liga kicked off again this weekend just gone, with some fascinating results and performances. We start by analysing the Big Three, examining where Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid are ahead of what is shaping up to be a three way title race.  In Part Two, we examine the European contenders, and the teams...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's Showtime once again in the Premier League, and so we're back to preview the season ahead of time in an episode that's become something of an annual tradition on Ranks FC. Jack and Dean get stuck into a preview of where we are ahead of the curtain raiser on Friday night, first examining those teams in contention for the title and discussing whether this could finally be the...

Hello Rank Squad! After looking at Premier League pre-seasons last week, we wanted to take things Continental this week, and take a dive into how things are looking ahead of the season for some of Europe's biggest clubs.  We start in Spain, where we examine a busy week for Atletico Madrid, talk through Real Madrid's big name summer and try to decipher just what's going on at Barcelona, before head...

Hello Rank Squad!  Pre-season is firmly underway and we've seen a mixed bag from some of the clubs on everybody's lips right now. We've taken five Premier League teams and ranked them on how we think they're getting on - stacking up their expectations ahead of the season against the performances that we've seen so far.  We share our thoughts on Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton &...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for a return to one of our favourite staples on Ranks - those Players Who Need a Summer Move, and the clubs that we think should be absolutely desperate to get them in, because they'd fit so well. It's a bit of a bumper cast today - we have 12 different players to discuss, so we get straight into things!  Our discussion starts with Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips, be...

Hello Rank Squad!  With the international tournaments done and dusted (for now, we see you Olympics), it's time to take a look at some of the transfer stories that you might have missed over the last couple of weeks - in the shape of a ranking. We've put together a list of the teams who have come storming out of the blocks in this window - either to rectify the issues of the last campaign or conso...

Hello Rank Squad! We're back with a second episode this week to take a look at the finals of both the Euros and the Copa America, which both take place on Sunday!  We start with the Euros, where England will take on Spain after both emerged as 2-1 victors from their semi-finals, after both going behind to early strikes. We discuss the semi-final performances, the key battle between Marc Cucurella...

Hello Rank Squad!  With this episode releasing bang between the two semi-finals of both the European Championships and the Copa America, we've had to switch things up a bit this week, so we wanted to talk about some of the transfers that might come off the back of these Euros.  Dean selects five players to discuss - Riccardo Calafiori, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, Ivan Toney & Matthijs de Ligt - and...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's been a funny Euros so far - some big guns with underwhelming performances, some strange results and group standings, but also a Final 8 that looks weirdly familiar - and that Jack thinks all have a chance of lifting that trophy (although admittedly some more than others).  We take a look at each of the eight quarter finalists - France, Portugal, England, Switzerland, the Ne...