Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the third Matchday of the League stage. We start at a very rainy Stamford Bridge where a very young Chelsea side made light work of 10-man Ajax, continuing their recent run of very impressive results; and then on to Frankfurt, where Liverpool bounced back from their recent troubles with...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the third Matchday of the League stage. We start at the Emirates where Arsenal found a magical 13-minute spell to put Atletico Madrid to the sword, beating them 4-0 with a couple of goals for Viktor Gyökeres and a couple of goals from set pieces for good measure; before heading to Leverkus...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to discuss Tottenham Hotspur, and the discourse around the idea that in just a small spell of games, Thomas Frank has fixed all the problems that saw last season become one of the most disappointing domestic campaigns in the club's modern history.  Spurs have won four, drawn two and lost just a single Premier League game so far, seeing...

Hello Rank Squad!  Ranks is 5 years old this week, so we wanted to start by saying Thank You to all of you who listen regularly and who have stuck with us on this incredible journey since we went independent in 2020. As a little celebration, we wanted to bring back one of our most-loved episodes from the staples and revisit Sacking or Saving Under-Fire Managers for a FIFTH time.  It's tough out th...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to discuss Liverpool - which seems to be the topic on everybody's lips right now. After a perfect start to the season from a results perspective, three losses in a week have opened up a discourse which was previously being kept at bay - whether Liverpool's imbalances since a summer overhaul have actually made them weaker, even just in...

Hello Rank Squad! With the international break upon us, we wanted to throw things forward a little bit, and dip into Dean's little black book of contacts to discuss some potential moves that could end up being the big stories of next year - either in January or in the summer transfer window.  We start by examining the situation around Harry Kane at Bayern Munich and whether his release clause will...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to discuss Harry Kane, and the phenomenal form he has started this season in - continuing on from two exceptional seasons since joining Bayern Munich in 2023. Things start off with just some general appreciation of just how good the England captain has been in Bavaria, before we try to fit him into the pantheon of great strikers of the...

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the second Matchday of the League stage. We start in Barcelona in a game which many wanted to be last season's final, as Luis Enrique's PSG were in town to play Hansi Flick's Barcelona. It ended in a dramatic win for the holders, but not before a cracking game with plenty of drama. Foll...

Hello Rank Squad! The Champions League is in full flow now and your Takeaway returns to have a look through all of Tuesday's action. We begin in Istanbul, where Liverpool's week took another tough turn with a 1-0 loss to Galatasaray - seeing Alisson and Hugo Ekitike injured in the process. We follow this up with a visit to their weekend opponents - Chelsea - who eked out a 1-0 win over former boss...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to discuss the woeful start that Aston Villa have had in this campaign, and whether this is just a blip or something more concerning for Villa fans. We examine the fallout of the financial peril in the summer, the work in the transfer market that has potentially left Unai Emery shorthanded for this season, the influence of Monchi - who...

Hello Rank Squad!  We're now a couple of matchdays into the new season and some interesting trends are starting to rear their head in different capacities. Today, we take a look through some of the things to be keeping an eye on this season, the storylines that might prove to be pretty important come the end of this campaign.  We start in the Premier League with a discussion of the newly promoted...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to take a look at the concept of the Bundesliga Tax - the idea that it is more difficult for players who come from the German top flight, to establish themselves as successful in the Premier League - something often thrown around on social media.  So, what is it, does it genuinely exist, and what are the examples and evidence that you...

Hello Rank Squad! We are back in business for the Champions League and there's plenty to discuss. We start with Thursday's action, where Marcus Rashford inspired Barcelona to a 2-1 win at St James' Park; before moving on to Manchester City's win over Napoli - which was fairly routine after Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off. We wrap up big wins for Eintracht and Sporting, before looking at Leverkuse...

Hello Rank Squad! The first day brought us 23 goals, and plenty of talking points, and Jack and Dean are here to discuss all of them with you after the first six games. We start with the game of the night - Juventus 4-4 Borussia Dortmund - where drama abounded in a goal-drenched second half; as well as looking at Arsenal's 2-0 win at San Mames, seeing off Athletic Club in what was a pretty much pe...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to dive into the incredibly chaotic summer that occurred at Newcastle United - headlined by the saga that surrounded Alexander Isak's eventual move to Liverpool, but that also saw an incoming holdout in Yoane Wissa; multiple targets move elsewhere until it became an internet meme; one of the most unique players in world football in Nic...

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! After a diverging night for Jack and Dean on the international stage, we settle back in on club matters to try and keep things in check.  The concept is simple - we each pick how w...

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in business for the new campaign alongside Jack, and they begin the season with a look back at the transfer window, taking stock of the signings that could end up being the difference between success and failure for a multitude of different clubs.  We start with a little chat about each of our clubs - Sunderland, Aston Villa and Fulham - catching up...

Hello Rank Squad!  With the chaos of the transfer window now safely in the rear-view mirror, we take a look back at an incredible wild Deadline Day and examine who came out of it looking stronger than they did at the weekend.  Firstly, Dean takes a look back at how his Deadline Day unfolded, and compared it to a good many years of covering the busiest day in any transfer journalist's calendar; bef...

Hello Rank Squad! As Deadline Day approaches, there's still a lot of business that feels like it needs to be done in the market - perhaps more so than ever before. We take a look through the biggest deals remaining in the Premier League ahead of the window slamming shut, working through club by club to hit the big stories.  We start with Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City - three teams...

Hello Rank Squad!  Whilst the Premier League previews dominated our thoughts last week, we haven't forgotten that there's plenty of excitement taking place elsewhere as well, and so this week we're turning our attention to Spain, where La Liga got underway this weekend.  In Part One, Jack and Dean look through the big three of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, taking stock of their trans...

Hello Rank Squad!  Here's the second half of our Premier League preview, where we flip down the bottom of the table, examining the three newly promoted sides in the shape of Burnley, Sunderland and Leeds United - and whether any of them can defy the gravitational pull that has seen the last six teams who have come up from the Championship all go straight back down.  We look at the teams who they'l...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for the first half of our Premier League preview, where we take a look at the top of the table - can Liverpool go back to back as Champions for the first time in 40 years, or will the revolution at Anfield take more time to settle down than they might imagine? Is Arsenal's stability enough to take them over the line? Will Pep Guardiola embrace the chaos with Pep Lijnde...

Hello Rank Squad!  We figured that with the new season drawing in, we'd start to draw a few conclusions of our own regarding where teams are right now - and what might happen over the next 10 months - so without being too wild, we've picked out a few bold opening statements each that we think reflect where the situation lies at this point in time.  Dean goes first to pick out five warm takes that...

Hello Rank Squad!  A slightly different take on the transfer window so far on today's show, because Jack has wrested the show plan off Dean to discuss some of the teams we haven't quite had time to deep dive on so far this summer. So, in the light of looking at very interesting windows that we've seen across Europe, it's time to scour some of the teams who have had the busiest starts to the summer...

Hello Rank Squad!  In the last few days we've seen deals for Hugo Ekitike, Marcus Rashford and Viktor Gyökeres come to fruition (or close enough as not to matter). So, how do those signings for Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal affect their fates? We discuss those in Part One.  Then, in Parts Two and Three, we move on to the deals not yet done, with Dean picking a host of other players out whose po...