Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

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 gu...

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 n...

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 a...

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 bo...

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...

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 Int...

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 caree...

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 de...

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...

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 unde...

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 C...

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 on...

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...

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 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 li...

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 poi...

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-tournam...

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 ta...

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 undoub...

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 th...

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; b...

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...

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 th...

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...

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.  T...