Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the First Legs of the Quarter Finals - where PSG and Atletico Madrid both won by a 2-0 scoreline, albeit in very different ways.  At the Parc des Princes, PSG took Liverpool to the cleaners for much of the 90 minutes - and will be somewhat disappointed that their lead that they will take...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the First Legs of the Quarter Finals - where both away teams found a way to win, albeit in very different fashions. At the Bernabeu, Bayern won the European Clasico, triumphing at the Bernabeu for the first time in 25 years - it's been a while since Élber scored the only goal in May 2001! ...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to take a look at a number of big stars and stalwarts who are departing their clubs this summer after long and/or storied periods of service, and how these clubs set about replacing them - either like for like, or in a different area of the pitch.  We take a look at the imminent (either confirmed or highly speculated) departures of Moh...

Hello Rank Squad! This international break gave us what we've been waiting for - the final names locked in for this summer's World Cup field. 48 nations have locked and loaded their spots in the biggest tournament in world football. Perhaps the biggest one missing though, once again, is Italy - with the Azzurri beaten on penalties by Bosnia & Herzegovina to make it three World Cups in a row that t...

Hello Rank Squad!  As we head into the last international break of the season, we're about to hit crunch time for 2025/26 in all of Europe's biggest leagues. With the end of the season imminent, the pressure is ratcheted up on teams up and down the table to get their respective jobs done wherever they find themselves within their competition, but certain players will be feeling the heat more than...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to take a look at the big debate that's beginning to rage on social media, that of who is going to be awarded Player of the Season this year in the Premier League?  The boys walk through each of the candidates, ranking them on where they would have placed them in the rankings if they were given the keys to the castle - and helping Sam...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the Second Legs of the Round of 16 - where the final four teams booked their spots in the Quarter Finals - Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich & Atletico Madrid. We start at the refurbished Camp Nou, where Barcelona survived a first half basketball game with Newcastle United, and then a...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the Second Legs of the Round of 16 - where our first four quarter finalists booked their spots in the last eight. We start at the Etihad, where despite a brave performance from 10-man Manchester City following Bernardo Silva's red card, Real Madrid proved too much to handle to see them off...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio for more of a positive episode - looking at some of the players who have made a major step forward in their individual careers over the course of the season.  We walk through six players - three each for the two boys - who have really moved onwards from 2024/25 to 2025/26, stepping upwards to either make huge individual contributions f...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the First Legs of the Round of 16 - where chaos reigned again and goals flowed freely. We start at the Bernabeu, where Fede Valverde's hat-trick carried Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Manchester City in by far their best performance under Alvaro Arbeloa, and where Los Blancos went back t...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first  Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the First Legs of the Round of 16 - where there were a glut of goals, some games put to bed already, a couple of shocks, and another nadir from perhaps the saddest club in world football right now in Tottenham Hotspur.  We start with Spurs' visit to the Metropolitano to play Atletico Madr...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at three sides who had relatively lofty expectations for the season back in August, and who find themselves in far more difficult situations than they had first feared. We look at what this season has meant for Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Newcastle United; what the fallout might be if they miss their ambitions from the opening...

Hello Rank Squad! We thought that with less than 100 days to go now until the World Cup begins this summer, it was time to start to take a look at the tournament in earnest - and the storylines on the pitch that are set to dictate just how this tournament is remembered from a footballing perspective.  We split that into three parts. Firstly, we take a look at three of the favourites to win the tou...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at what is going down at the bottom of the Premier League table, where one of the great names of English Football has been dragged into the scrap for survival - Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs are still in the best possible position they could be, but things feel like they're tailspinning in a way we haven't seen in a while. They coul...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the Second Legs of the Playoff Round of the competitions - where the final four teams booked their spots in the Round of 16. It was an emotional night at the Bernabeu, where despite a somewhat lethargic performance from Real Madrid, it felt fitting that it was Vinicius Jr who dropped th...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the Second Legs of the Playoff Round of the competitions - where our next four teams booked their spots in the Round of 16. It was a very special night for Bodø/Glimt at San Siro, with their incredible fairytale continuing on with a 2-1 win over Inter that made them the first Norwegian sid...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at which clubs are best at scouting in certain positions - not just good at picking off the best in the world for huge fees, but opening up that pathway for the biggest guns in the football world.  We work through each position, leaning heavily on Sam's article for ESPN as he works us through his thought process for each select...

Hello Rank Squad! It was nice to get back to thinking about the football itself on Wednesday, as the action on the pitch returned to centre stage. Dean and Jack are back together to discuss the four games that rounded off the first legs of the Playoff Round, before looking back at Tuesday's action.  We start with Newcastle's 6-1 evisceration of Qarabag after their 2000 mile trip to Azerbaijan, and...

Hello gang, Sometimes the events in games are overshadowed by more insidious ones that dominate the headlines. This is one such occasion, and so it didn't feel particularly right to talk about the football after the scenes in the Benfica game, where Vinicius Jr walked off the pitch following comments made to him by Gianluca Prestianni.  What was said, we don't fully know, because Prestianni pulled...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at the proliferation of set pieces across the entirety of the Premier League's clubs this season, and the impact that it is having on games and entertainment value.  We discuss the direct nature of games this season, the rise of better organised defensive units and the fact that set pieces offer a tangible way to crack tight ga...

Hello Rank Squad!  The Rank God is back in the building (literally in this case) and today Sam joins Jack to take a look at some of the most underrated players in the Premier League. That's a difficult concept to define, so the main ranking takes a deep dive of three players who are often derided for something they regularly showcase or a mistake they made at one point, and examines why they shoul...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in town for 2026 and after an extended winter break that has included no little change in the footballing world, the boys are starting up again with an examination of the big questions that will define the rest of this season.  There's discussion of the Premier League title race, the resurgence of Manchester United under Michael Carrick, Chelsea und...

Hello Rank Squad! The January Transfer Window has finally come to a close and whilst it wasn't the most explosive window in recent years, it still threw up its fair share of interesting and intriguing deals - for better and for worse. Today we break down some of our favourites, some of those we can't quite get our head round, and some of those that have slid under the radar, to try and work out th...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for your final Champions League Takeaway of the League Stage for 2025/26, with the 36 team battle culminating in a blitz of chaos and craziness, eliminations and ecstasy, in an 18-game bonanza that delivered more drama than we thought possible.  In Lisbon, Jose Mourinho downed his protege Alvaro Arbeloa and former club Real Madrid, with a last minute headed goal from th...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the belated second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at the games from Wednesday night, as well as taking a step back to see what the League Table means after seven matchdays - examining the dominance of the Premier League teams across the competition's higher ranks and also how that might play out in the knockout stages.   It's Ranks!  And remember, if you...