Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

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'll be looking to reel in as well - Wol...

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 Lijnders as his right hand man? And could ...

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 he's got ahead of the new season, fro...

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. 

First, we take a look at two of th...

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 potential futures - whether they stay o...

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 beast to the slightly predictable side...

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 of their favourite transfers out from...

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 iteration of the tournament, before the...

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 other most expensive transfers in Premier...

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 things around after a tough season the...

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 - Brentford's Thomas Frank is all set...

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; and whilst there will be plenty of ...

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 gone, and analyse them with the huge ad...

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 main event. 

Across the Premier Leagu...

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 keel globally. 

We examine the history ...

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 Submarine, before we get down to business d...

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 half season, there are no trophies to sh...

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 probably don't need to worry that much thi...

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 Flick after his ill-fated tenure with th...