Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! We're back (and icing our league previews series for a week) to take a look at the big storylines dominating the Premier League transfer landscape ahead of the transfer window closing on Friday. Dean walks us through the headlines for each of the Premier League's top eight from last year - Arsenal's search for a forward, Manchester City's desire for an Alvarez replacement, Manche...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for us to take our previewing over to Spain, where La Liga kicked off again this weekend just gone, with some fascinating results and performances. We start by analysing the Big Three, examining where Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid are ahead of what is shaping up to be a three way title race.  In Part Two, we examine the European contenders, and the teams...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's Showtime once again in the Premier League, and so we're back to preview the season ahead of time in an episode that's become something of an annual tradition on Ranks FC. Jack and Dean get stuck into a preview of where we are ahead of the curtain raiser on Friday night, first examining those teams in contention for the title and discussing whether this could finally be the...

Hello Rank Squad! After looking at Premier League pre-seasons last week, we wanted to take things Continental this week, and take a dive into how things are looking ahead of the season for some of Europe's biggest clubs.  We start in Spain, where we examine a busy week for Atletico Madrid, talk through Real Madrid's big name summer and try to decipher just what's going on at Barcelona, before head...

Hello Rank Squad!  Pre-season is firmly underway and we've seen a mixed bag from some of the clubs on everybody's lips right now. We've taken five Premier League teams and ranked them on how we think they're getting on - stacking up their expectations ahead of the season against the performances that we've seen so far.  We share our thoughts on Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton &...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time for a return to one of our favourite staples on Ranks - those Players Who Need a Summer Move, and the clubs that we think should be absolutely desperate to get them in, because they'd fit so well. It's a bit of a bumper cast today - we have 12 different players to discuss, so we get straight into things!  Our discussion starts with Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips, be...

Hello Rank Squad!  With the international tournaments done and dusted (for now, we see you Olympics), it's time to take a look at some of the transfer stories that you might have missed over the last couple of weeks - in the shape of a ranking. We've put together a list of the teams who have come storming out of the blocks in this window - either to rectify the issues of the last campaign or conso...

Hello Rank Squad! We're back with a second episode this week to take a look at the finals of both the Euros and the Copa America, which both take place on Sunday!  We start with the Euros, where England will take on Spain after both emerged as 2-1 victors from their semi-finals, after both going behind to early strikes. We discuss the semi-final performances, the key battle between Marc Cucurella...

Hello Rank Squad!  With this episode releasing bang between the two semi-finals of both the European Championships and the Copa America, we've had to switch things up a bit this week, so we wanted to talk about some of the transfers that might come off the back of these Euros.  Dean selects five players to discuss - Riccardo Calafiori, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, Ivan Toney & Matthijs de Ligt - and...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's been a funny Euros so far - some big guns with underwhelming performances, some strange results and group standings, but also a Final 8 that looks weirdly familiar - and that Jack thinks all have a chance of lifting that trophy (although admittedly some more than others).  We take a look at each of the eight quarter finalists - France, Portugal, England, Switzerland, the Ne...

Hello Rank Squad! We're now comfortably into the period of double international competitions, so it felt only right to do an episode that spent some time looking at what's happening on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean - picking out three big questions so far on both the Euros in Germany and the Copa America in the USA.  We start with the Euros, where we're discussing whether we think Spain are the...

Hello Rank Squad!  By the time you're listening to this, every single team in Euro 2024 would have played, and we asked our ever-brilliant Patrons for the questions to help shape an episode around what we've learned so far in the tournament.  We kick things off by discussing Kylian Mbappé's broken nose in the France-Austria game, how many games he will miss, and if it opens up an opportunity for y...

Hello Rank Squad! After last week's European Championship preview shows, we've taken a plane across the Atlantic Ocean to take you on a whistlestop guide to the teams at this summer's Copa America, which will be taking place across the United States.  We examine each of the 16 teams in the competition, their chances of getting out of the groups (and going all the way), and how we think everyone is...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time to get stuck into this summer's international football, so here's the last in our series of Euro 2024 Preview Shows! We begin today with Group E, which includes Belgium's first tournament under a new head coach, Ukraine's Girona-powered attack, Slovakia's impressive left-hand side, and Romania's youth-injected underdogs.  Then it's onwards in Part Two to discuss the las...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time to get stuck into this summer's international football, so here's the second of our series of Euro 2024 Preview Shows! We start with Group C, which include England's Three Lions who got to the final of the last tournament, a pessimistic Serbia looking for a bright end to a talented core, an ageing Denmark side who have opted for experience over change, and underdogs Slo...

Hello Rank Squad! It's time to get stuck into this summer's international football, so we're kicking things off ahead of the Euros with less than 10 days to go until the first game gets underway. We start with Group A, which include hosts Germany, the Tartan Army of Scotland,  wily old Switzerland, and dark horses Hungary.  Then it's onwards in Part Two to discuss holders Italy, perennial challeng...

Hello Rank Squad! It's that time of the year again - the club football finale in Europe, as the Champions League Final is upon us. This year's showpiece event is at Wembley, between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, and we're here to break it all down for you.  We start by picking out three reasons why each should be optimistic about winning this final - Dean (as usual) goes in to bat for Real Ma...

Hello Rank Squad!  We thought it was a good time to put together our End of Season Awards Show, so here we are. We take some time to reflect on an incredible campaign, and discuss which players are in the running for our Player of the Season, Rising Star, Most Improved Player, Resurgence of the Year, Goal of the Season, Team of the Season, and Melon Team of the Season for good measure - looking ac...

Hello Rank Squad! The domestic club season is drawing to a close. The continental league titles have mostly already been lifted, the Premier League title will be decided this weekend, and whilst there are still some important bits to figure out - the European continental competitions, the domestic cup finals, the fights for survival and the locking in of next season's European places - the season...

Hello Rank Squad!  Champions League Takeaway is back to take a look at the second legs of the UCL semi-finals, where we saw Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 2-1 and Borussia Dortmund win 1-0 in Paris to set up a clash of Yellow and White in London next month!  We start with Wednesday’s action, with Real Madrid's late, late show yet again to beat out Bayern and send the Bernabeu wild. Dean waxes lyri...

Hello Rank Squad!  It's time to go Continental for this week's episode, building a European Team of the Season from the big six leagues on the European mainland. There were a few more teams, players and contenders to analyse compared to last week's Premier League edition, so it's a dig into the depths for Jack to try and build something special from this season's standout stars.  We take a look ac...

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway is back to take a look at the first legs of the UCL semi-finals, where we saw Borussia Dortmund 1-0 PSG & Bayern Munich 2-2 Real Madrid.  We start with Wednesday’s action, with Dortmund's win. Dean showers some love on Jadon Sancho, who dazzled down the right hand side for Borussia Dortmund - this is the man we loved the last time he was in the Bundeslig...

Hello Rank Squad! You've seen the debates raging on Twitter, so we thought it was worth putting our two pennies worth into the mix. Here is our attempt at creating our Premier League Team of the Season, examining the best players across the course of this campaign and working them into a formation (and a unit) that would actually function.  We start between the sticks and work our way through to o...

Hello Rank Squad!  Just four teams remain in each of the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, and so we thought we'd get our competition ranking caps on to discuss which teams are favourites to lift those trophies in their respective competitions at the end of May and the start of June.  We start with the Champions League, with Dean examining Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Pari...

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway is back to take a look at the second legs of the UCL Quarter Finals, which took place across both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.   We start with Wednesday’s action, looking at Real Madrid's defeat of Manchester City on penalties - discussing how City fans shouldn't be too disheartened with what was a dominant performance, how Jude Bellingham has a perfect...