Hello Rank Squad!

There's a new show starting on the Channel from this Friday, and it heralds the return of Rank God Sam Tighe to Ranks FC. Sam's new podcast, which he's co-hosting with the brilliant Dougie Critchley, who you might know from Sky Sports and Football Daily - as well as being on Ranks a few times in the past! 

The podcast is called The Truth, and Sam's here to explain the concept, introduce you to Dougie, and prep you for the first episode which will be dropping tomorrow (Friday) for your listening pleasure ahead of the weekend. 

The Truth is somewhere in the middle. 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad! 

It's time for us to take our previewing over to Italy, where we've seen an intriguing first couple of weeks in Serie A - where 14 of the 20 clubs changed managers this summer. We start by analysing those we think will be challenging for the title - starting with reigning Scudetto Champions Inter, moving on to Juventus and their new manager Thiago Motta, taking a look at Napoli under the guidance of the legendary Antonio Conte, and examine new-look AC Milan, even after their difficult start. 

In Part Two, we examine the European contenders, and the teams who'll almost certainly be fighting it out for that final Champions League spot (probably with Milan), as well as the Europa and Conference League places behind - last season's surprise package Bologna, Gasperini's Europa League winning Atalanta, a completely fresh-faced Roma, Ciro Immobile-less Lazio,  and the eternal wildcard that is Fiorentina. 

Then it's onwards to the newly-promoted sides and the teams we think might struggle, and Jack has some thoughts on Venezia, Parma, Como, Genoa, Cagliari, Lecce, Monza and Empoli. 

Finally, we make a few early predictions for Player of the Season, Signing of the Season, and Golden Boot (Capocannoniere) winner to round things off. 

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 we talk about their potential destinations, where they might fit best, and any concerns we have with the profiles of players going into the right clubs. 

Before that, there's Things We Love, where Dean discusses the current US obsession with getting Jurgen Klopp in as the next USMNT manager, and Jack pays homage to Thiago Alcantara - the midfield maestro who announced his retirement from the game this week. 

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Welcome to something slightly different here on the channel. On Wednesday evening we teamed up with the excellent folks at Preediction to do a live, interactive transfer show with a load of guests who came on to talk to us about everything and anything transfer related.

We talked a whole host of things - Kylian Mbappé's potential exit from Real Madrid, Harry Kane and Declan Rice, as well as answering questions on Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester City and much more.

It's Ranks!

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

The domestic season is (mostly) over for 2022/23 and so it's time for us to look back and hand out some awards, especially for those who might have been missed out!

We hand out some alternative awards - Coolest player, most watchable team, most pointless transfer, worst decision maker, and many more - to try and get a full lid on the best and worst things that happened this season and how you might remember them.

Before that, we start with a discussion of the latest news on Kylian Mbappé and if he actually wants out of PSG, talking about how he'd fit (or not) at Madrid, and how the future actually looks at the Parc des Princes these days.

And there's finally room for a Melon of the Season, a Gibberish Rankings about why British people cannot cope in a long, hot summer; and a goodbye for a little while to Sam, who is taking a well-earned rest.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like to join us for more transfer blitz shows this summer, why not have a look at our Patreon, where you can still get a one month free trial at the moment!

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's the final (and perhaps the biggest) game of the European Season this Saturday as Manchester City take on Inter in the Champions League Final, held this year in Istanbul at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium - 18 years after maybe the most dramatic of all UCL Finals when Liverpool came back from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties in the Miracle of Istanbul.

We take a look at how both teams got to the showpiece event, analysing their runs to the final; before turning our attention to why both will feel confident going into this game. Dean gives us three reasons City can finally get their hands on the coveted European Cup, whilst Sam sets out three reasons Inter will feel that they have the tools to stop that happening. Finally, Jack takes a look at his key battle in this one, between City’s Rodri and Inter’s Nicolo Barella, before we give some predictions to round things off.

It's Ranks!

Tickets for our Live Transfer Interactive Show are now available but there’s only a limited amount left. We’d love you to get involved, so if you’d be interested in chatting to us about the big transfer stories this summer, why not have a look here?

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

News broke on Tuesday that Tottenham Hotspur had appointed Ange Postecoglou as their new Head Coach, after two very successful years at Celtic where the Australian won five trophies, including a treble this year.

Reaction to the news has been mixed in the Spurs camp, so we decided to get some friends along to help us look through various different facets of the appointment. First off, Jack and Dean discuss how this came to pass, before we're joined by Coach and Spurs fan Harry Brooks to look at some of the challenges Ange will have to overcome.

There's a segment from our Patreon episode where Sam & Dean dissect the nuances of having a manager from a slightly more obscure background take the reins at a big club and the challenges that presents, before Jack is joined by Alex (@EuroExpert) to look at some of the tactical quirks Ange likes and some of the players who could thrive under him.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like to take advantage of the Free Trial on Ranks FC's Patreon, we'd love to have you join us over the summer as we freewheel through the biggest transfer stories and more from what promises to be a wild off-season.

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's the Europa League Final between Roma and Sevilla, so we've brought in some very special guests to walk through a few reasons why both sides will feel they can lift that trophy in Budapest on Wednesday night. John Solano joins us to talk all things Roma, before we welcome back an old friend in the form of David Cartlidge to discuss Sevilla's chances of getting their hands back on their favourite trophy.

It's Ranks!

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

As awards season begins to roll in, we turn our attention to the Premier League and which managers have impressed enough this season to be considered in the conversation as the league's best. We discuss cases for Pep Guardiola of Manchester City, Mikel Arteta of Arsenal, Eddie Howe of Newcastle United, Roberto de Zerbi of Brighton & Hove Albion, Unai Emery of Aston Villa, Marco Silva of Fulham and Gary O'Neil of Bournemouth, in various capacities - as Sam picks out his top five.

Things We Love talks about Borussia Dortmund being one win away from their first Bundesliga win in 11 years, West Ham's celebrations upon reaching the Europa Conference League final, and Granada being on the brink of a return to La Liga.

There's a Melon of the Week from the Bundesliga's European battle, and Gibberish returns to discuss some of the best mascots in world football.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for another Champions League Takeaway - a midweek bonus meal on all the week's UCL action. We have a final on our hands after Manchester City blew Real Madrid away at the Etihad and Inter comfortably saw home last week's advantage against city rivals AC Milan.

We start in Manchester, where we discuss how Kyle Walker's moment at 1-0 was the epitome of a City side in complete control, the big game attitude of brilliant Bernardo Silva and why tonight showed just why Real Madrid are looking to sign Jude Bellingham in midfield.

Then we head to Milan to talk about the sheer lack of personality and tactical nous showed by Piolo's Rossoneri, the similarities between the Champions League and World Cup campaigns of Lautaro Martinez's Inter and Argentina, and a night where a referee kept a real lid on things as it threatened to boil over.

Finally, we take a quick preliminary look at the matchup in the final and how Inter's defence should give City more problems than Madrid managed tonight, or whether this Pep machine are just too good to stop.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Finally, it feels like the Mauricio Pochettino deal to Chelsea that's been floating around the ether for weeks now is a done deal, so we've decided to take a look at the first orders of business for him when he takes the reins at Stamford Bridge. There's a lot to get through, so expert help was needed in the form of The Athletic's Chelsea correspondent Liam Twomey, an old friend of this parish.

We discussed the issues facing Poch in deciding what his No. 9 needs to look like, working out who fits the roles he needs in his attacking midfield core, finding an understudy/replacement for N'Golo Kanté, the fitness of the squad, and the outgoing players he needs to find a new home for.

There's room for Things We Love too - where we discuss Xavi ending Barcelona's four year wait for a La Liga title at Camp Nou and the news that Marcelo Bielsa has been appointed as the new manager of the Uruguay National Team. Melon of the Week comes from a humdinger at Elland Road, and there's a Gibberish about Jack's learnings from the three stag do (bachelor party) weekends he's been on in a row.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for another Champions League Takeaway - a feast on all the week's UCL action. With the first legs of both semi-finals in the books, we sat down to dissect Milan's 2-0 defeat at home to Inter and Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Bernabeu.

We start in Milan, where we discuss the absence of Rafael Leão and the knockon effects that had on Milan's team selection and ability to release the pressure valve; the re-emergence and brilliance of Henrikh Mkhitaryan this evening; and the duel between Denzel Dumfries and Theo Hernandez that the Dutchman came out the better of.

Then we head to Madrid to talk Haaland's quiet evening and the big-game-strides of Kevin de Bruyne; why we could watch Kyle Walker and Vinicius Jr. duke it out all night; and Pep not overcomplicating things, much to the delight of City fans.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's a Champions League Week again, so it's a double drop and a little look forward on our first episode - this time taking it into the summer to discuss some of the biggest deals that are already being put on the table. Dean brings his expertise to discuss the situations of Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Alexis Mac Allister and what the summer transfer window is going to look like for all these players. Jack and Sam do their best to work out sensible destinations for all five, and how things might play out.

Before that, Things We Love is about this week's trophy winners - we discuss Napoli's first Scudetto win for 33 years and Real Madrid finishing an incredible 475 days with a Copa del Rey win over Osasuna, as well as giving some praise to Ange Postecoglou's back-to-back Champions at Celtic and a shoutout for Urawa Red Diamonds, who won the Asian Champions League at the weekend too.

There's a Melon of the Week from a mad Bank Holiday Monday of Premier League football, and Sam's Gibberish throws up some options of how to make this Formula 1 season more competitive.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Netherlands, Turkey, Germany and Spain - and assess their chances of winning the competition, as well as the strengths and flaws that we've seen in each of them so far. 

And finally, there's a nonsense ranking for you all of the best acts that Jack saw at Glastonbury, whilst Dean tells us what he would have seen if he was in Somerset, rather than San Diego.

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

May has arrived and the football train is pulling into the final few stations for this season, which means we're in the closing stages of the Champions League. Four teams remain - Inter play Milan in a Derby della Madonnina in one semi-final, whilst we have a re-run of last year with Real Madrid playing Manchester City in the other. Which of the four teams is most likely to lift that coveted trophy into the night sky in Istanbul in June? We break it down.

Things We Love this week contains a discussion of the relegation battle in the Premier League, summarised by that crackerjack of a Monday night game between Leicester City and Everton; a look at the state of play as we head into the final day of the Championship season; and a discussion of Dean's beloved Walton & Hersham, who have been promoted, and whose story is absolutely wild.

There's a Melon of the Week from Anfield at the weekend, and Gibberish from Sam describing an event that he and Jack went to last week in town, which threw up some interesting stories.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

With the NFL Draft coming up fast, there's always an excuse for us to dig out an old favourite out of the Ranks playbook and give ourselves a Draft challenge as well. This time round, we've added some more parameters - we each get an ordered pick to try and build the best team of players who are aged 23 or under, and no player can be picked twice.

Joining Sam, Dean & Jack is Ranks Chief Writer and MLS Correspondent Owen Murray, all the way from the West Coast, and a man with more experience of these kind of things than us - Owen's representing the Rank Squad in this game, and he's hoping to do you all proud.

Join us as we make our way through some of the best young talent in the world of football, and build XIs that we think could challenge for the ultimate crown.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Some extra love coming at you this week as we take a dive into the breaking news of the day - where it looks like Mauricio Pochettino is close to becoming the new Chelsea manager. We take a look into why he's accepted the job at this point, what Chelsea have promised him as a project, who he might look to sign in the summer, how his team could set up, his relationships with Directors of Football in the past, Poch's reputation in both France and England, and what this means for Daniel Levy and Spurs.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we had the second legs of the quarter finals and locked in our final four. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with City's 1-1 draw in Munich which saw them progress comfortably after last week's massacre in Manchester. We discuss the mentality change for City ahead of another semi-final, the impressive performance of Kingsley Coman, and Bayern's gamble not paying off. Then, we're off to Milan to discuss what looked like a 3-3 classic between Inter and Benfica, but was actually less so. That said, Inter will be over the moon - we talk the experience of Inter's lineup, the positives that Benfica can take out of this and the fanbase's joy at Inter's homegrown Italian core.

Then in Part 2, we head back to London to discuss Real Madrid's thoroughly professional job dispatching an out-of-sorts Chelsea. There's some hope for Blues fans, in Lampard's tactics actually suiting this game quite well, but it's a Rodrygo love-in by the end as one of Real's Brazilian starboys takes another opportunity to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, in a competition he loves so much. We finish with the all-Italian affair between Milan and Napoli, which the Rossoneri edged; talking through Milan's Rafael Leão's one-man counter-attack, Napoli not needing to be too downhearted, and a defensive display which was worthy of some of Milan's legendary back lines.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There are just a couple of matches left in most domestic leagues in Europe, meaning that it's now or never for a lot of things. Title races, relegation scraps, promotion tussles - there's absolutely loads left to play for across the continent.

On today's episode we look at the most exciting things left to play for this season - from Arsenal vs. Manchester City and Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund in the title races in the Premier League and Bundesliga respectively, to the battles for differing European spots across England, in La Liga in Spain, and in Italy's Serie A, where the Champions League battle is an absolute bear pit.

Things We Love discusses yet another weekend of absolute madness, and one that was really tough on teams at the top of their respective leagues; Roma's wonderful tribute to captain Lorenzo Pellegrini; and the atmosphere in El Trafico, where LAFC finally triumphed away at LA Galaxy.

There's also a Melon of the Week that we absolutely hated handing out, and Jack takes over the Gibberish Rankings to discuss his favourite golf clubs and how they compare to different football players. It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we had our first round of quarter final matches. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Chelsea at the Bernabeu, where Frank Lampard's Blues lacked real dynamism, and the spark and trickery of Vini and Valverde made them pay. We try to find some positives for Chelsea too, but ultimately this one felt like a bridge too far for a team lost with where they are right now.

Then in Part 2, we head for Milan, where Napoli were once again quashed as the Rossoneri came out on top in an all-Italian affair. We talk about the power of San Siro, Napoli's nightmare evening in the North, and Milan's refusal to kill the game off - will that cost them in Naples? Three B's headline Benfica 0-2 Inter, where Bastoni's long passing is given its due credit, Benfica's wilting under the lights is discussed in terms of fatigue and experience, and Barella's return to Europe's top tier of midfielders is heralded - he remains Inter's big-game Mr. Reliable. Finally we turn our attention to Manchester, to the most impressive performance of all 8, where City's intensity made Bayern melt in the Manchester malaise, the Barnsley Beckenbauer John Stones ascended to the throne of his namesake against his old club, and Dayot Upamecano had an evening we're sure he'd love to forget.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's always good to take stock of players at this point in the season, so we thought we'd do something fun - and try to work out the best front three we could build from each of the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1, before pitting those against each other to determine an ultimate winner. As you can imagine, consensus was tricky to come by in a world that contains so much brilliance, but we've done our best!

Things We Love discussed the job that Unai Emery is doing at Aston Villa, Ben Foster's big moment in the 'biggest non-league game ever' and the brilliance of Easter Weekend in the Championship. There was an incredibly controversial Melon of the Week from Dean, and Sam's Gibberish included some questions out of left field.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Club football is back with a bang, and so is the return of the Champions League, which will get to its quarter final stage (or as Sam calls it, 'the best bit in football') next week. We wanted to get the jump on it, looking at each team and ranking them in likelihood of them winning the competition this year - will it be Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Napoli, Milan, Inter, Bayern Munich or Benfica that lifts that famous trophy at the start of June?

It's not the only big European tournament going though - Jack takes us on a quick pitstop of the Europa and Conference League final 8s as well, although it's only his top three to win each of them (and a wildcard to keep an eye on!)

There's a Melon and Shoutout of the Week, returned to full glory this time round, and Sam's Gibberish is provided by his wonderful, long-suffering wife Rach, who gives us her take on the UCL 8-1 ranking.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like to take advantage of our free trial on Patreon, have a look around here!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's been a week of consternation in the managerial world, from last week's bolt from the blue coming out of Bayern Munich, where Julian Nagelsmann was replaced by Thomas Tuchel in the Bavarian hot seat; whilst on Sunday night news broke that Antonio Conte and Tottenham Hotspur had parted ways also. We start at Spurs, where we discuss what comes next for Tottenham and how Daniel Levy has a plethora of differing options from Mauricio Pochettino to Thomas Frank, to decide how the future of the club looks.

Then we are blessed to be joined by Manuel Veth, German football expert, writer for Forbes and Transfermarkt, and host of the Gegenpressing Podcast; to discuss why Bayern decided that they were going to part ways with Julian Nagelsmann, despite it looking like he was bound to be their project manager for a long time to come, and why Thomas Tuchel's availability forced a quick decision upon the Bayern hierarachy.

Finally, there's a Melon of the Week from Scotland, a disheartening Shoutout Section, and a Gibberish that looks at a missing member of the Ranks FC crew.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's the International Break, and so we wanted to take a look at a couple of players who look like they could change their respective nation's fortunes over the coming years. We talk about Turkey's Arda Guler, Ireland's Evan Ferguson, Belgium's Romeo Lavia, Israel's Oscar Gloukh and the big bad wolf himself - Norway's Erling Braut Haaland; to discuss how their skillsets could launch their countries into a new era of success.

There's Things We Love too - where Dean discusses the form of Bukayo Saka, both on and off the pitch; Sam looks at the changing ways different clubs are attempting to avoid relegation in the Premier League; and Jack delves into Sevilla's managerial merry-go-round and the need to be careful what you wish for.

There's a managerial Melon of the Week, and Sam's Gibberish takes a turn for the weird as he compares oven temperatures to footballers.

It's Ranks!

If you're interested in joining us for more over on our Patreon, our free trial is active now so you can get a month's listening to see if it's something you like!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 real deal after their perfect group stage, if Portugal have solved the Cristiano Ronaldo conundrum up front and where that puts them in the contenders ranking, and if the Golden Generations of Belgium and Croatia have finally run their course!

Then it's over the pond for the Copa, and we start by questioning whether Brazil really have the firepower to go deep into this competition, discuss just how good we think Uruguay and Colombia really are after their hot starts, and think about whether the USMNT should be adjusting their expectations of this competition based on the quality (or lack of) that we've seen elsewhere.

Finally, Dean has some Guru Wisdom on the ticket pricing and stadium filling in the US for the Copa, and a plea to people to hold out for more reasonable prices ahead of the 2026 World Cup. 

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we locked in the final four teams in those quarter-final slots. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with Manchester City's 7-0 demolition of RB Leipzig, looking at Erling Haaland's goalscoring instincts, Leipzig's brave but foolish gameplan, and why City feel like real favourites this year; before taking a dive into Inter's battling 0-0 that saw them progress at the Dragão at the expense of Porto, discussing Inter's defensive solidity for 90 minutes, the chaos of injury time and why Diogo Costa is the real deal.

Then in Part 2, we head for Madrid where Real Madrid finished the job against Liverpool, talking about Trent's tricky time against Vinicius Jr. (again), the aging nature of Liverpool's midfield options, and just how comfortable Real Madrid are in these stages of a stressful competition; before finishing in Naples with Napoli 3-0 Eintracht Frankfurt, looking back at Napoli's incredible defensive effort in the ranks, how the Kolo Muani red card ruined the tie for Eintracht, and why Napoli's ball manipulation around the pitch puts them up there with the best in the world right now.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Today we have a special guest joining us to provide you with some insights into what actually goes down in the smoke and mirrors world that is scouting - Lee Scott, who is Chief Scout at Vélez CF. Lee has worked with a host of clubs in world football, including his hometown club of Aberdeen, was a co-founder of Total Football Analysis, and has written three books as well, meaning he's amongst the busiest and most broad-ranging minds in the game.

We absolutely loved this episode, and we think you will too!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as the first four teams booked their quarter-final slots. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with Bayern knocking out PSG, looking at the performances of Dayot Upamecano, the insane pace of the game and what the next steps are in Paris; before taking a dive into Spurs' limp 0-0 that saw them exit at the hands of AC Milan, discussing Mike Maignan's influence, the bizarre way in which Spurs let this one dribble away from them, and Harry Kane's future after this display.

Then in Part 2, we head for Lisbon where Benfica dismantled Club Brugge, talking about Gonçalo Ramos' development into a complete No. 9, the disaster that was Scott Parker's time in Belgium, and a remarkable season for João Mario; before finishing at Stamford Bridge, where we talk some mesmerising individual displays from Havertz, Chilwell and Cucurella, how Dortmund let the tie slip from their hands, and the penalty landscape in which we now reside.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

We're going a little bit abstract this week, to think about what defines each of Europe's Top 5 leagues in their current state, and then try to apply that criteria to work out which player (currently in the league) best represents that league right now. We take a trip through the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, the Premier League and Ligue 1 to find those who carry the spirit of the leagues within their own games.

Things We Love discusses the madness enveloping top teams beating each other at the summit of European football, looks at two players considering switching their national allegiance to Spain, and talks briefly about Fiorentina's much-needed resurgence as we get to the sharp end of the season.

There's a Melon of the Week straight out of the red mist playbook, a food-themed Shoutout of the Week, and Gibberish discusses the shock events that went down at Jack's birthday at the weekend.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey Rank Squad!

As we’re no doubt sure you heard on last week’s episode, we’ve opened 1-month free trials for our Patreon in March. That means you can sign up for nothing and sample what we do over there, enjoying 2 extra episodes a week and getting a real sense of the community and togetherness we’ve built.

This episode is a 15-minute snippet of our traditional Monday Postbox episode, where we react to the weekend’s football and let Patron questions guide the flow of the conversation. If you enjoy it and want to hear the rest, please head over to www.patreon.com/ranksfc and scoop a free trial!

We look forward to seeing you over there!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's that time again, and we're mixing things up this week! With the media's attention firmly locked on the PL title race, the Champions League and an imminent El Clasico, we wanted to explore some big storylines perhaps sliding under the radar. So Sam's set Dean & Jack to work on five big questions left across Europe - who will be the worst team across the Top 5 leagues, which team will come out on top in the Eredivisie title race, at what point Napoli will start to rotate their squad a bit more, whether Fulham can actually qualify for Europe, and if Dortmund will ever drop points again (and what that means for the Bundesliga title)!

Things We Love touches on Manchester United's win in the Carabao Cup Final, and how Harry Maguire would have felt; Nashville SC's performance in their opening game of MLS regular season; and a beautiful gesture in the game between Besiktas and Atalanyaspor in Turkey.

There's a Melon of the Week straight of out Austin, Texas; and Sam proposes a game that's been doing the rounds on social media for this week's Gibberish.

It's Ranks!

If you're interested in joining our free trial month over on Patreon, why not sign up here?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Our new show is back for Round 2 - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we finished off the first legs in the Round of 16. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lense, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid, talking Vinicius Jr. shining, Luka Modric running the midfield and why goalkeeping mistakes are more common now; then head to Eintracht Frankfurt 0-2 Napoli to put some respect on Chucky Lozano's name, look at how Kvicha Kvaratshkhelia channeling Francesco Totti and touch on why Kevin Trapp has kept this tie (sort of) alive in Part 1.

Then in Part 2, we dive into RB Leipzig 1-1 Manchester City where City got punished for not killing the game, Leipzig bizarrely refused to have a strategy in the first half and Pep didn't make any substitutions again; before finishing with Inter 1-0 Porto where crossing finally paid off for the hosts, Matheus Uribe put in a masterclass in the middle, and Porto toughed out the trip to set up a thrilling second leg.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's a big episode today because we're taking a look through each of Europe's Top Five leagues and their Golden Boot races, to see what we can learn from who leads the scoring charts in each country. We start in the Premier League, talking Arsenal sharing the goals out and Erling Haaland's remarkable consistency. Then we head to Italy to discuss Napoli's dynamic duo of Osimhen and Kvaratshkhelia, and the scintillating form of Ademola Lookman.

In Spain there's a discussion of the lack of goalscoring across the league, as well as some nice redemption arcs that show the power of persistence; whilst in Germany we look at Nagelsmann's system finally coming to fruition at Bayern and Randal Kolo Muani becoming an all-round threat for Frankfurt. Finally there's a trip to France, where Flo Balogun is posing Arsenal a problem for next season, and Wissam Ben Yedder continues to do his thing once again.

Things We Love talks Southampton's new man at the helm Ruben Selles, the brilliant Bundesliga title race and the return of MLS; a very obvious Melon of the Week is given out, and Jack takes hold of Gibberish to discuss his trip to Iceland.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like more from us, why not give our Patreon a go?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

We're here with a new show - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we returned to European action in the Round of 16. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lense, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with Dortmund 1-0 Chelsea, talking wastefulness, mistakes and why the reverse fixture should be a cracker; head to Milan 1-0 Tottenham to discuss Brahim Diaz, toothlessness and inexperience in Part 1.

Then in Part 2, we dive into Club Brugge 0-2 Benfica where Parkerball returned, Rafa Silva shone and why this tie is done; before finishing with PSG 0-1 Bayern where pace was the name of the game, Bayern lacked bodies in the box, and Galtier got it wrong.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

With the Champions League in full swing this week we wanted to change up the pace a little bit, and go a tad more evergreen - revisiting an old favourite that we'd had more than a few requests to look at again. Back in one of our first ever episodes, we ranked every Premier League captain on their current playing ability, but that was two and a half years ago, so it was worth a new go round the merry-go-round.

Things We Love starts us off where we talk Barcelona's current excellent form, whether Ronald Araujo should be getting close to the 'Best CBs in the World' debate, and Nantes' resurgence ahead of their UEL tie with Juventus this week.

There's a Melon of the Week from mad scenes at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup, and Gibberish returns as Sam talks through his life this past week dealing with some surgery in the household.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 young Bradley Barcola off the left wing, who replaced Mbappé for long periods in the PSG season just gone by. 

Then it's on to England, where some of our Patreons (and Dean) are pretty happy with what they saw from the Three Lions in the opening win against Serbia, whilst others want more from this England team - and from Gareth Southgate, who is in charge. 

We chat through the brilliant narrative of Christian Eriksen scoring on his return to the Euros with Denmark, before turning our attention to Germany, who won 5-1 against Scotland on the opening night.  Nagelsmann's fluid attack is a talking point, as well as whether Germany's use of Niclas Füllkrug could be crucial to breaking open certain games in this competition. 

Hungary are up next, and we talk whether being tipped to do well perhaps piled pressure onto them, and how they can move forward, as well as giving some love to Switzerland's majestic midfield pair of Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler. 

Onwards to Italy, who Jack was impressed by in their comeback win over Albania, and there's some more praise on the podcast for the ever-brilliant Nicola Barella, before we discuss if Albania can feel confident coming into their game against Croatia, and give some love to Spain - especially the performances of Lamine Yamal, Dani Carvajal and Fabian Ruiz. 

And we wrap things up by talking about the Netherlands and whether Ronald Koeman's stubbornness is a blessing or a curse, big up what was an incredible performance from Romania, and look at whether they can continue that form against a Belgium side now under huge pressure after their shock loss against Slovakia.

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

The Champions League is back next week and we're here to make sense of it all - going through each of the eight matchups to determine who is in the better position to advance, discussing their strengths and weaknesses, and taking a peek at the teams we think are favourites to lift that famous trophy by the time we get to May. There's a lot of ground to cover!

Part One sees us look at PSG vs. Bayern Munich, AC Milan vs. Tottenham Hotspur, Club Brugge vs. Benfica and Dortmund vs. Chelsea; Part Two discusses Liverpool vs. Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Napoli, Inter vs. Porto and RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City; whilst in Part Three we talk about our favourites to win the whole competition and why we're backing them, as well as covering Melon of the Week and a brilliant shoutout.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

Yesterday brought the January Transfer Window crashing to a halt, with Chelsea going big once again, some smart signings across the board and some moments of madness as well. We take a look back at the big questions - who "won" the window, which permanent transfers will have the most impact in this second half of the season, and which loans topped a very impressive list.

We talk Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea, Marcel Sabitzer to Manchester United, João Cancelo to Bayern Munich, Harry Souttar to Leicester City, Jorginho to Arsenal, Pedro Porro to Tottenham Hotspur, Keylor Navas to Nottingham Forest and much more, including some brief discussions on Marseille, Bayern, Real Valladolid, Southampton, Bournemouth, Verona, Spezia and many others.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's a special episode today - with our beloved Transfer Guru absent we are joined by long-term friend of the pod and Tifo Football star Jon Mackenzie, to talk through five deals which have maybe flown under the radar of most football fans. They're all under the age of 21, they all cost a fair bit of money, and they all add something new to their respective clubs.

With the Premier League doing most of the big business in this window, it remains heavily stacked in favour of the PL, but perhaps off-piste from the names you've heard thrown around a lot this window. We talk Jhon Duran to Aston Villa, Victor Kristiansen to Leicester City, Danilo to Nottingham Forest, Dango Ouattara to Bournemouth and Georginio Rutter to Leeds United and discuss how they can affect the seasons of their respective clubs.

There's a quick Things We Love, where there's a thank you to everyone who watched our documentary (if you haven't, we'd love if you smashed this link to take a look), a discussion of Xabi Alonso's slick Bayer Leverkusen, and some chat on high-flying, free-scoring Atalanta as well. Dean has a brief cameo to bring you Melon and Shoutout of the Week, and Sam's Gibberish revolves around 90's football memorabilia that gave him a big nostalgia trip this weekend.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's good, Rank Squad!

We're back for another tryst into the chaos of the January transfer window, trying to make sense of everything that's going on around us. Today, we take a look at five players who are potentially on the market and could make a huge difference to a new club in the second half of this season.

We start with Ferran Torres, who is linked to Arsenal (again), as a potential alternative to Mykhailo Mudryk; before moving on to Arnaut Danjuma (linked with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Leicester City); Duvan Zapata (linked to Everton and West Ham); Michail Antonio (linked with Wolves, but we'd like to see him in Italy, at AC Milan, Atalanta or Fiorentina); and finally, Moises Caicedo (linked with Chelsea and Liverpool).

There's a return for Things We Love, where Sam discusses our upcoming documentary on Athletic Club which is dropping this Friday on our YouTube Channel; and Jack waxes lyrical about Napoli's 5-1 victory over Juventus on Friday night (what else is new.)

Melon of the Week comes from a very slippy St. James' Park, to Jack and Dean's chagrin, there's shoutout of the week, and Sam talks his problems with Wordle in the Gibberish Rankings.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for our rehousing episode - where we take a look at five players who are unwanted, underused or unloved at their current clubs, and find new homes for them to thrive in. This January, we're talking about Tottenham's Japhet Tanganga, PSG's Keylor Navas, Barcelona's Memphis Depay, Lyon's Houssem Aouar and Roma's Rick Karsdorp, alongside a whole host of honourable mentions, and looking for clubs where their respective skillsets would be put to good use.

There's also time for an opening discussion on Chelsea's attempt to loan João Félix, which looks set to go through, and some thoughts on why their move for Enzo Fernandez broke down; there's a Melon of the Week all the way from Australia, and Sam's Gibberish revolves around some of the weirdest emails that he's been receiving on a regular basis.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like more from us, why not have a look at joining our Patreon, where there's at least two more episodes of Ranks FC every single week!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad, and Happy New Year!

The transfer window is only a few days old, and yet plenty of clubs have already got themselves involved in the mire - with some big names already having shifted on to horizons new. We take a look at five deals already complete and dig into the analysis of whether they're good, bad, indifferent or important. We talk Max Wöber to Leeds United, David Datro Fofana to Chelsea, Cody Gakpo to Liverpool, Matheus Cunha to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, giving them the Ranks treatment.

No Things We Love this week, because there's an incomplete transfer impending that's hogging the headlines, with reports stating that Argentine World Cup winner, young player of the tournament and Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez is set to join Chelsea in a deal that would make him the most expensive player in Premier League history. We dive deeper into why they want him, why he's going to cost so much, and our thought on the deal as a whole.

Plus, there's a (slightly obvious) Melon of the Week, and given the time of year, a Gibberish Ranking where Sam shares his New Year's resolutions with you all.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like to get involved with our Patreon, where we're dropping transfer specials across the month as well as our usual Postbox and Spotlight content, you can get involved here!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's nearly the New Year, so it's time to get back talking transfers ahead of the window opening - and who better to guide you through it than our very own Transfer Guru Dean Jones, who has the lowdown on five of the biggest storylines you need to be watching closely as transfer business swings back into life.

There's also a quick chat about Cody Gakpo's move to Liverpool, Matheus Cunha's move to Wolverhampton Wanderers; and Melon of the Year is handed out, alongside a return of the Gibberish Rankings.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's been a wild World Cup, a magnificent month of football that culminated on Sunday with one of the greatest games that you're ever likely to see in your life, never mind on this kind of stage - and Argentina are once again Champions of the World, bringing to a close an era of European dominance that has lasted two decades. It was a fitting send off for (in our humble opinion) the greatest player of all time, leading his country to the pinnacle of the world game. Shouts out Leo Messi.

We take a look back at the tournament as a whole, first discussing the wonderful chaos of the final, before picking our Team of the Tournament, throwing around some names who might have earned themselves a big move, as well as talking our favourite moments, the biggest shocks and the state of play in international football ahead of the 2026 tournament.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

It's finally here - 62 games later, we have our World Cup Final set, and it's Argentina vs. France in the showpiece. Can Lionel Messi finally achieve international football immortality or will France become the first side in over half a century to retain the crown? There's narratives galore, so we thought we'd dig deep into where this game is won and lost.

We talk Messi vs. Mbappe, Alvarez vs. Giroud, the genius of Antoine Griezmann, Argentina's siege mentality, France's ability to get over the line, and tactical rigidity vs. tactical flexibility - as well as two cracking national anthems, and our predictions as to how it all goes.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

...and then there were four!

Hello Rank Squad! We have got down to our final quadrant of Nations left in this year's international piece de resistance, with Argentina, Croatia, France & Morocco the only teams remaining in the 2022 World Cup. Fresh from a round of shocks in the last ranking, we've decided to give it another go, with Dean taking each nation in turn and looking at their chances of winning the tournament in its entirety.

Then, in Part Two, Jack talks us through some positives and negatives for each nation to be aware of ahead of the semi-finals, with a few tactical and a few emotional bits to keep an eye on in each of these two games. Will we have a repeat of the final last time out? Is this finally Lionel Messi's time? Can Morocco's fairytale express keep dropping masterclasses? It's all to play for.

It's Ranks!

And, for more from us, why not join our Patreon for after-the-whistle reactions, Christmas specials in the pipeline, and regular audio updates on the upcoming transfer window in January?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 set as we enter a period of two simultaneous continental championships at once! 

Dean takes favourites Argentina in Group A, whilst Jack discusses Canada, Chile and Peru. 

In Group B, Dean's on Mexico duty, whilst Jack talks Ecuador, Venezuela and Jamaica. 

Group C sees Dean discuss his new home team, the USMNT, whilst Jack covers Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia. 

And finally it's off to Brazil for Dean in Group D, whilst Jack looks at Colombia, Paraguay and Costa Rica. 

It's Ranks! 

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

We're now 56 games into this World Cup, and eight teams remain in the competition as Quarter-Finalists. We have the bracket, we have the route, we have four games from each of them to analyse, so it's time to rank the Netherlands, Argentina, France, England, Croatia, Brazil, Morocco and Portugal on how likely each of them are to lift that famous trophy aloft on December 18.

There's also time for us to have a look at some of our favourite managers, players and teams that we've had to say goodbye to, in a special 'fallen by the wayside' segment in Part 3!

If you'd like to join the Ranks Community, and get our Matchday Drops on World Cup Daily, it's a great time to join our Ultras on Patreon, where there's tonnes of extra Ranks content for you to explore and listen to.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

We're over half way through the 64 games of the World Cup now, and after two rounds in the Group Stages, there are some things of note that we have learned - or at least you'd hope so, having watched every single minute of this tournament so far. Sam takes us through five intereting quirks that he's noticed across all the teams - from underdog nations really taking the handbrake off and going hard at favourites, attacking substitutions playing out in favour of those who make them, tactical formation changes in abundance, those for whom this World Cup might just have been a tournament too far, and squad numbers (especially for goalkeepers) being an absolute shambles.

There's some Things We Love too, which focus on Ghana's Mohammed Kudus, Canada's Steven Eustaquio and Portugal's ghost goal that Cristiano Ronaldo was adamant was his; as we look through some of the best bits of the World Cup so far.

It's Ranks!

If you'd like to come and see what the fuss is about on Patreon, and get our daily podcast drops during this tournament, then click here!

Or to take advantage of our deal with NordVPN, you can visit NordVPN.com/ranksfc.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

We're now into the bulk of the World Cup, and we've seen our fair share of spills and thrills already, but this Friday brings us the Ranks Derby (and Dean's House Derby) between the USMNT and England in Group B. We're joined by a very special guest in the form of TSS's Taylor Rockwell to balance the equation as we look at three players from each side who could make all the difference in this clash across the Atlantic.

Plus, we start things off by taking a look at Saudi Arabia's upset of Argentina, why France are ominously scary after their first game, and how come there's so much added time in these games!

It's Ranks!

If you'd like to get involved with our quickfire daily podcasts covering everything during the World Cup, why not have a look at our Patreon community?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.