Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for this week's second Champions League Takeaway - looking back at Wednesday's Quarter Final first legs, where PSG roared back from 1-0 down to beat Aston Villa 3-1 and Barcelona romped to yet another astounding win, routinely dismantling a discombobulated Dortmund 4-0.  We start with PSG and wonder if anybody could have held up against the power of their attacking migh...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your late night delivery following the action - looking back at Tuesday's Quarter Finals, where Arsenal blew away Real Madrid in a stunning second half at the Emirates, whilst Inter dispatched Bayern with ruthless efficiency on German soil.  We start with the man of the hour - Declan Rice - whose two unbelievable free-kicks handed Arsenal...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Arsenal and in particular, a big reshuffle in the boardroom that has seen Andrea Berta succeed Edu Gaspar as their Sporting Director. Berta was formerly at Atletico Madrid, forming a (mostly) impressive team with Diego Simeone, and also previously worked at Genoa and Parma in his native Italy.  We examine what his record was at Atleti i...

Hello Rank Squad!  Dean's back in London, so it's less of a Transatlantic Job this week, but that doesn't mean there's not still plenty to discuss. Today, we're looking at the Champions League Quarter Finalists, but in a slightly different way - examining who the most important player is for each of the eight teams remaining in the competition, from the perspectives of how they've played so far, a...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Juventus - who are currently one point off the Champions League places in Serie A, and have lost three league games all year, but who have just sacked manager Thiago Motta around 300 games into his tenure.  Very few teams have drawn as many games as Juve this year, and coupled with decisive losses to Fiorentina and Atalanta in Serie A,...

Hello Rank Squad!  On Monday news broke that Trent Alexander-Arnold's move to Real Madrid this summer was close to being completed, with the Liverpool defender seemingly leaving his boyhood club for free at the expiration of his contract this summer, and it got us thinking - who else is in the same category of being on the open market this summer and where could they go? We start with a discussion...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Alexander Isak, who is hot property right now after another stellar campaign with Newcastle United, which culminated in him firing them to Carabao Cup glory at Wembley on Sunday against Liverpool.  Newcastle are absolutely adamant that their Swedish superstar is going nowhere - and so they should be - but that hasn't stopped the rumour...

Hello Rank Squad!  After 70 years domestically, or 54 years across the board, Newcastle United finally got their hands on silverware again this weekend, beating Liverpool in the Carabao Cup Final to end one of the longest trophy droughts in English football, and doing it in some style. Big Danny Burn completed his incredible redemption arc and Alexander Isak got the match-winner as a lifetime of b...

It's time for The Truth! Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Brighton & Hove Albion, who are having an impressive season - but also one that's been permeated with strange results and odd streaks of form that have been up and down.  On the verge of the Champions League places, things look pretty good under Fabian Hurzeler, who was brought in from St Pauli at the start of the season, who guided the...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's the second of two Champions League Takeaway episodes on the feed this week, with four more games to dissect - headlined by another 120 minutes of madness, this time from Madrid, where Real needed penalties to get the better of Atleti in a game the hosts will feel aggrieved not to have won (we've heard that one before...) We break down the chaos of the penalty shootout, incl...

Hello Rank Squad!  In a bit of a break from tradition, and after witnessing an absorbing encounter between Liverpool and PSG at Anfield, we decided this week might be a good one to switch things up and discuss the thing everyone will be discussing come Wednesday morning - the action from the Champions League, so this is the first of two UCL Takeaway episodes that will be with you this week.  We st...

It's time for The Truth! Dougie's back in business with Sam after a well-earned week off and it's a return with a bang as we turn our attention to Manchester United - always a behemoth of a topic, who are currently seemingly locked inside a battle with themselves. After a dreary start to 2025, questions are being asked of Ruben Amorim's stewardship, and if United have actually got worse since he t...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your late night delivery following the action - following the first legs of the Round of 16, where we saw a lot of favourites come out on top, but perhaps not in the way we expected!  Wednesday night saw Bayern's 3-0 demolition of Leverkusen - did Xabi Alonso overthink this one? - as well as Liverpool dropping an all-timer of a smash and g...

Hello Rank Squad! Today we decided to take a look at the current state of the Premier League, which has had an exclusive winners club since it broke away from the Football League in 1992. Seven teams have won a 'Premier League' title since that time, and we wanted to take a look at who could become the eighth. (Yes, we know football didn't begin in 1992, but it makes for an interesting discussion....

It's time for The Truth! Dougie's out on holiday this week so Jack hops over from the producer's chair to the co-host's one, joining Sam to go deep on Germany's most famous and most successful club, Bayern Munich - who are currently eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table after falling to third last season.  But does that league position potentially conceal the fact that Bayern remai...

Hello Rank Squad! There are 16 clubs left in the Champions League with the Playoffs done and this year, there's a bracket in place so that we can plan out routes all the way to the final in Munich. So, given we have just a week until we're back in the thick of it, we wanted to take the opportunity to examine where all those clubs are and how likely they are to be lifting the trophy in May.  So, 16...

It's time for The Truth! Dougie, by his own admission, has never been particularly interested in MLS - the top flight of American soccer. In this episode, Sam and Jack do their best to persuade him why this is a great time to start watching the league, by extolling the virtues of one of the most exciting leagues on the planet, which comes with its own quirks and surprises.  We start at the beginni...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your late night delivery following the action - following the second legs of the new 'Playoff Round' in the competition, pitting the teams who finished 9th to 24th in the league stage against each other to earn places in the Round of 16. Wednesday night saw the headline tie of the round - Real Madrid vs Manchester City - settled by a Kylia...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's nearly time for kick-off in MLS' 30th season, so we thought it was the right time to sit down and take a look at how things are shaping up ahead of a landmark campaign.  We start with Dean's new hometown club of San Diego FC, examining how the 30th franchise in the league are looking ahead of their maiden voyage in the Western Conference; before moving things on to the cont...

It's time for The Truth! When we talk about the best managers in world football, certain names come up over and over again (and rightly so) - the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti. But you'll also hear shouts for Diego Simeone, for Mikel Arteta, Antonio Conte, Unai Emery and many more.  Rarely though, is the name of Simone Inzaghi mentioned - despite his Inter...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your late night delivery following the action - following the first legs of the new 'Playoff Round' in the competition, pitting the teams who finished 9th to 24th in the league stage against each other to earn places in the Round of 16. And it started with a bang, with a matchup between Manchester City and Real Madrid that we've seen multi...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for us to revisit a staple of the Ranks canon, looking at Europe's Big Seven leagues and examining where the most fun is going to be had in the title races at the end of the season. Some leagues look already done and dusted, others need reinvigoration very quickly if there's going to be any jeopardy, and a select few look like they could come down to the very last mome...

Hello Rank Squad!  The January transfer window has closed for another year, and Deadline Day threw up a chaotic bundle of stories to sift through as usual. We examine the final days, and the window as a whole to pull out the most intriguing deals that have piqued our attention for a variety of reasons, and discuss why.  Then, we broaden the lens - taking a look at the most radical business, the mo...

It's time for The Truth! If you look at the top of the Premier League table, you'll see a few of the country's most famous and recently successful clubs in the pack, but you'll also find a previously fallen giant - in the form of Nottingham Forest, and an upstart underdog - in the form of Bournemouth, going toe-to-toe with the big boys.   But how did they do it? What's behind the successes of the...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your late night delivery following the action - after the first ever 'final matchday' of the new League Stage, which saw every single game taking place at the same time.  We start with a look at Manchester City's Great Escape - coming back from 1-0 down (and surefire elimination) to win 3-1 against Club Brugge, and sneak into the Playoff r...