Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad!  After Cole Palmer's star turn on Monday night against Everton, we got thinking about the players who have used this season as a platform to thrust themselves into the spotlight, and become some of the star names in their respective leagues.  We start in the Premier League, where Dean has a ranking of his three breakout stars - a flying fullback at Liverpool, Manchester United's...

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway is back to take a look at the first legs of the UCL Quarter Finals, which took place across both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.   We start with Wednesday’s action, looking at Barcelona's topsy-turvy win over PSG - discussing how both managers were able to influence the game with their substitutions, the strange nature of PSG's struggle at defending set pi...

Hello Rank Squad!  The talk of the football world right now seems to be the fact that Liverpool are reportedly closing in on their next manager - Rúben Amorim of Sporting CP, who became the leading candidate once Xabi Alonso made it clear that he planned on remaining at Bayer Leverkusen for at least one more season.  Amorim is a young coach with a high pedigree, and someone we talked about a littl...

Hello Rank Squad! Something a little bit different today, and we hope you'll find it as fun a listen as we found it to record. Dean put together a list of seven potential rule changes that he thought could improve the game of football immediately - we discussed everything from stopped clocks to goalkeeping handballs over the course of a manic main ranking.  We also took some suggestions from our b...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for us once again to turn to a positional ranking - having covered the best centre-backs and centre-midfielders in the game, we're switching our attention to wingers, wide forwards and those stars who shine the brightest on the flanks.  Again, we'll be splitting it into categories - this time shearing the ranking down the lines of those who play on the right and the lef...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the weekly excerpt from our Monday Postbox episode on Patreon, where we take questions from our community to look back across all the action from the weekend just gone.  This is the segment on the USMNT's 2-0 victory over Mexico in the final of the CONCACAF Nations League, marking three times in a row that Gregg Berhalter's side have won the competition - with a per...

Hello Rank Squad! And...breathe. After the drama of the last few weeks across so many different competitions, men's club football has come screeching to a halt for the last international break of this season, which gives us a chance to take stock and examine all the drama to come.  Let's be real - there's so much drama to come. We've picked out five different elements that we think could provide t...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the weekly excerpt from our Monday Postbox episode on Patreon, where we take questions from our community to look back across all the action from the weekend just gone.  This is the segment on Manchester United's win over Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday, with Erik ten Hag's side coming from behind in extra time to end Jurgen Klopp's farewell quadruple dream - ther...

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway is back with a bang, as we take a look at the last four games of the Round of 16 stage, which took place across both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.   We start with Wednesday’s action, looking at Atletico Madrid's defeat of Inter on penalties - discussing how much braver Atléti were in possession today, why it's a shame that one of these two sides had to e...

Hello Rank Squad! It's a Champions League week, so we thought it could be fun to throw up something a bit more evergreen whilst still linking into the action, so we're here to rank our favourites of a very exclusive list.  We walk through the top 20 goal scorers in European Cup & Champions League History - which Erling Haaland has just catapulted himself into - and each pick out our three favourit...

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway returns, as we take a look at the games that saw the first four teams book their spots in the quarter finals of the UCL.  We start with Wednesday’s action, looking at Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Leipzig - discussing why Leipzig will see this is a massive opportunity missed, how Real Madrid got away with one without anyone in the box, and a look at the bi...

Hello Rank Squad! Today we're taking a look at some of the most important and influential players who could be departing the Premier League this summer, for a variety of reasons. We walk through a couple of bona fide Premier League legends, some big names who might be a little bit past their peak right now, and some crucial cogs who could be tempted away by the lure of trophies or bigger names.  F...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for the weekly excerpt from our Monday Postbox episode on Patreon, where we take questions from our community to look back across all the action from the weekend just gone.  This is the segment on the Manchester Derby, where Phil Foden took centre stage once again to light things up as Manchester City beat Manchester United 3-1 - City's Stockport sensation trumping Unit...

Hello Rank Squad! You've been asking for more specific rankings, so we took it upon ourselves to deliver - this week's episode takes a look at the players across Europe who play in the centre of the park, and tries to rank them as to who's the best in the business - across three categories: Defensive Midfield, Attacking Midfield, and good old Central Midfield.  It ignites a few strong debates - bo...

Hello Rank Squad! We wanted to share with you an excerpt from our Monday Postbox episode on Patreon, on which we take questions from our community to look back across all the action from the weekend just gone.  This is the segment on the Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea, where Virgil van Dijk's late header got Jurgen Klopp's farewell trophy tour off to the perfect start. We discuss...

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway is back with a bang, as we take a look at the second set of First Leg Round of 16 fixtures across both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.   We start with Wednesday’s action, looking at Arsenal's 1-0 loss to Porto - discussing the significance of Porto's gameplan halting Arsenal's goal rampage, the remaining question marks over Arsenal's comparative infancy ba...

Hello Rank Squad!  This week, we've decided enough time has passed for us to examine the deals that took place in the summer, and see which clubs made the best value signings before this season started. We kick things off in England, where Dean discusses a midfielder who ended up at West Ham United, Tottenham's goalkeeping sensation, and the man who makes it all tick for Aston Villa, as well as so...

Hello Rank Squad! MLS is back this week, and we wanted to pay homage to that fact by dropping a special preview show as a bonus episode. Ranks FC MLS Correspondent Owen Murray joins Jack live from the West Coast to give you a brief lowdown on what you need to know ahead of the season beginning on Thursday.  We discuss the teams who have made the smartest moves in this off-season, as well as those...

Hello Rank Squad!   Champions League Takeaway is back with a bang, as we take a look at the first Knockout games of the season - across both Tuesday and Wednesday nights! We start with Wednesday’s action, looking at Bayern's loss to Lazio - talking Lazio's defensive doggedness giving them a real chance, Bayern's lack of ability to get their most crucial players into the game, and why regardless of...

Hello Rank Squad!  There's a few big managerial vacancies opening up this summer - Barcelona and Liverpool in particular - and there's also signs that there could be openings at Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Juventus and more.  So we decided to take a look at five managers who have had impressive campaigns, and who might be on the wishlists of a few of Europe's giants - Sebas...

Hello Rank Squad!  The January window has been and gone, and it's time to turn our attention to the return of continental European football - with the Champions League returning next week. We break down our rankings of every team in the competition and their chances of lifting that famous trophy in May, starting with outsiders Copenhagen and working our way through to the big hitters - holders Man...

Hello Rank Squad! The January transfer window has SLAMMED SHUT, so we thought it was an opportune time to take a look back through the deals that went down, even in a quiet window; and pick out our favourite ones.  Dean picks three deals from the Premier League - Gio Reyna to Nottingham Forest, Timo Werner to Tottenham Hotspur, and Claudio Echeverri to Manchester City ; whilst Jack heads to the co...

Hello Rank Squad! This transfer window has been a funny one across the board in many ways - we've seen the Premier League's financial dominance of the market fall by the wayside, and a quieter one all round take place across Europe. So, in regards to that, we've decided to eschew our usual Deadline Day preview episode in favour of something looking a bit further forward - to working out who could...

Hello Rank Squad! The whole gang's back together as Dean and Jack are joined by our Rank God  Sam Tighe, who, we're delighted to say, has just become a father for the first time. Today we're talking about various things you need to watch out for on the week leading up to Deadline Day. Dean starts us off with three big names who could yet sneak their way into a move: Karim Benzema, Aaron Ramsdale,...

Hello Rank Squad, It's time for a little twist on a Ranks FC classic in today's podcast - we're taking a look at six players who desperately need a move for the sake of their careers, for varying reasons and in different situations.  Dean picks three players from the Premier League - Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale, Everton's Ben Godfrey, and Manchester United's Anthony Martial; whilst Jack takes on thre...