Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! It's been a busy summer already - teams participating in the Club World Cup, plenty of big business, managers on the move, new stadiums and plenty more; so we want to look at the teams who are going to look very different to the end of last season when we get going in earnest again. We start with a look at the CWC Final, where Chelsea showed that they might well be a different be...

Hello Rank Squad!  After Dean kept the streak alive last week (it's now the 339th week in a row where there's been a Ranks episode, shouts out DJ), Jack's back from marital bliss to take ahold of the reins again - and after a brief discussion about the festivities and the differing football mindsets of the younger generation of Jones', we head into our main ranking.  Dean and Jack both pick a few...

Hello Rank Squad! It's a Dean Jones solo special with Jack off doing marital bliss, so there's a different feel to today's episode, where DJ is taking things solo to discuss the Club World Cup and some of the ways it might affect the football we know.  There's some discussion on the fermentation of cross-federation rivalries and why ticket prices need to be considered far more ahead of a second it...

Hello Rank Squad! It's Jack's last episode as a Bachelor, and we thought we'd take a look at some transfers to send him off blissfully into wedded life. Liverpool have signed Florian Wirtz, breaking the British Transfer Record in doing so, and we discuss his arrival at Anfield and how he might fit into Arne Slot's Champion Reds next season.  That gives us a launchpad to talk about some of the othe...

Hello Rank Squad! Today we're diving back into the murky depths of the transfer market, and looking at some of the potential deals that are being discussed right now. It's a seller's market, in so many ways, and that often means that teams will overpay for players - whether through a gamble on a major talent, a burning need to fill a gap, or because they're absolutely hellbent on trying to turn th...

Hello Rank Squad! The (first) Transfer Window has officially closed, but there's been plenty of activity on the managerial merry-go-round across Europe, with new faces taking over at new places - to the delight of some and the chagrin of others. On today's episode we're looking at a number of new bosses and analysing how we think they fit their new home.  We start with the most recent appointment...

Hello Rank Squad!  The footballing summer is officially here, with the Champions League Final crowning what has been a pretty unbelievable season in Europe all round. We start today's episode with the final word on that final, where Luis Enrique's brilliant PSG absolutely dismantled Inter in one of the all-time great showpiece performances.  Then, it's onto the talk of the summer - transfer season...

It's time for The Truth!  For the last time this season, Sam and Dougie convene in the studio to record, and for the season finale, they're looking back at the first year of the podcast - what they got right, what they got wrong, and some of the best bits as well.  Picking for each other, the boys choose a Best Take, Worst Take, Most Enlightening Take and Most Surprising Take from the year just go...

Hello Rank Squad! With the conclusion at the weekend of the domestic campaigns still running, we thought it was a good time to look back on the season just gone and hand out some awards for the best (and worst) of what we've seen across the board.  We start by talking about our favourite stories of this season, where we both plump for underdogs turning their seasons around, before we head into the...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at the Club World Cup, set to kick off just a couple of weeks after the European season ends. The tournament has divided fans and pundits alike, with some seeing it as a bizarre power play from FIFA to try and rival the riches of the Champions League, whilst others feel that it's an opportunity to spread the game's wealth on a more even ke...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's the first transfer focused episode of the summer, and we set out the stall for what's to come in some of the biggest deals. Set your stalls out, ready yourselves - because some of these ones will definitely become sagas, dragged on for months in negotiations.  Jack starts things off by giving some love to Villarreal and the job that Marcelino has done with the Yellow Submar...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at where Arsenal find themselves right now - and whether there is complete faith in Mikel Arteta to make them take that next step to winning serious silverware.  After six and a half years in charge, there is no doubt that Arteta has raised Arsenal's floor to a point where they are in the mix every single year, and yet since that first hal...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's that time of the year where amidst all the trophies being handed out, thoughts turn to who are the frontrunners in the race for the biggest individual prize in the game - France Football's yearly Ballon d'Or.  Last year the award came with a whole thunderstorm of controversy, with Real Madrid boycotting the ceremony after Rodri won the top prize over Vinicius Jr. They proba...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at how Hansi Flick's slightly surprising appointment at Barcelona last summer has turned into a masterstroke, and how the German has immediately brought the Blaugrana back to the top table of European football with a string of youngsters and some of the most exciting attacking football on the continent.  There were question marks about Fli...

Hello Rank Squad!  We have our Champions League finalists, after PSG joined Inter in the showpiece event by beating Arsenal 2-1 at the Parc des Princes to progress 3-1 on aggregate. The game might not have had the verve and sparkle of Tuesday's semi, but there was plenty to discuss all the same here on UCL Takeaway.  Arsenal started fast, but couldn't find the killer blow to leave the tie in the b...

Hello Rank Squad!  After one of the most intriguing, exhausting, exhilarating semi-finals that the competition has ever seen, Inter will be in the final after finally dispatching Barcelona with a knockout blow, just moments after they had dragged themselves off the canvas themselves.  4-3 on the night, 7-6 on aggregate, this was one of the best games of football we have seen in many a long year, t...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at the Premier League, and the argument that's been raging on social media as to whether this is a Premier League cast that's strong or weak?  On one side, you have the earliest that three teams have been confirmed as relegated in Premier League history, as well as Champions in Liverpool who were crowned in April - but realistically haven'...

Hello Rank Squad! That was absolutely breathless and chaotic, and so the podcast looking back at it is too. We try our best to get to the bottom of an anarchic game of football between Barcelona and Inter that started fast and got wilder from there, and one that ended with the two teams locked at three goals apiece.  We discuss how Inter might well go home the happier side, even if Barcelona had t...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for Champions League Takeaway here on Ranks FC, and our first episode of the semi-finals, looking back at the game between Arsenal and PSG in North London, where Luis Enrique's side came out the victors, taking a 1-0 win with them back to the Parc des Princes for next week's second leg.  We discuss it all in great detail - looking at a mesmerising first 25 minutes from...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Serie A, and examining just how tight the race for the title is between Antonio Conte's Napoli and Simone Inzaghi's Inter - with both teams on 71 points with five games remaining in the league campaign. We discuss the distinct possibility of a playoff game between the two at the end of the season, a one-game shootout to determine who li...

Hello Rank Squad!  We're well into the final stretch of this domestic season now, and whilst there are many things decided - Bayern and Liverpool are going to win their domestic leagues, for example, and certain relegation fights seem over before they've begun - there is still plenty of drama to be getting stuck into if you know where to look.  So consider this episode a little bit of a guide - we...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Real Madrid, and where things have gone wrong for them over the past couple of months. The perennial Champions League winners are out of the competition they love most, are currently second in La Liga to Barcelona, and whilst they are in a Copa del Rey final, they face off against Barça there too - who they've routinely struggled to con...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for this week's second Champions League Takeaway - looking back at Wednesday's Quarter Final second legs, where Arsenal and Inter were able to maintain their first leg advantages to progress to the semi-finals, but in very different circumstances.  Dean is back in San Diego and back in the booth, so we start with Arsenal winning 2-1 at the Bernabeu to knock out the hold...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for this week's first Champions League Takeaway - looking back at Tuesday's Quarter Final second legs, where both PSG and Barcelona emerged with qualification intact, but with their reputations bruised and having been handed on-the-night losses by Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund, who were both excellent.  In the absence of Dean, who is flying back to San Diego, Jack i...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Chelsea, and a slide in form since the turn of the year that has seen them slide from second in the table to being on the brink of falling out of the Champions League places. So what has happened in 2025 to Enzo Maresca's side, and where has the form that saw them exceed all pre-season expectations gone to? We discuss the squad building...