Ranking Big Transfer Stories Ahead of January

Hello Rank Squad! It's time to look back at the first quarter of the season, or as we like to call it, the end of the start. So, with so much ground to cover, we decided we'd rank Europe's top five leagues in terms of the carnage factor of the beginning of the season - everything from struggling giants to remarkable fairy stories and everything in between. There's Things We Love, which looks forward to a stunning weekend of football ahead of us in terms of teams in their respective top fours playing against each other, and a nod to our weekend ahead where we're off to Bilbao to see a resurgent Athletic Club take on Atletico Madrid. Melon of the Week comes from Portugal, and in the Gibberish Rankings, Dean takes his turn at ranking three things that he's good at. 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.

12 Okt 20221h 9min

(Firstly, apologies for the audio quality, Jack's gone AWOL to Sicily and tried to continue with the day job)Managerial careers are a bloodbath. You can win a Champions League these days and be out of a job 15 months later, so it feels like anyone is fair game really. It's not pretty, it's probably not right, but it's just how it is in the cut-throat world of elite-level football, so we take a look at the heads who might be under the cosh already. Max Allegri of Juventus, Brendan Rodgers of Leicester City, Steve Cooper of Nottingham Forest, Gerard Seoane of Bayer Leverkusen, Steven Gerrard of Aston Villa, Julen Lopetegui of Sevilla and Simone Inzaghi of Inter all come under the microscope (in one way or another) all come under our microscope as we look at the gaffers under pressure at this stage of the season. There's also Things We Love, which includes a straight-up worship period for what Erling Haaland is doing to the Premier League in his first eight games; some love for the brothers of the moment at Athletic as Iñaki and Nico Williams assist each other; and Jack going off on one about Casa Pia in the Primeira, who sit fourth after the first eight games of the Primeira season. And Melon of the Week takes a personal turn for Dean, whilst Sam's Gibberish Rankings are the most self-indulgent they've ever been. 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.

5 Okt 20221h 22min

Hello Rank Squad!It's been a window full of intrigue, but some players have used it to devastating effect, to make the jump from squad players to locked in starters in Qatar, or to inscribe their name firmly in their managers squad lists. We look at a couple of Dutch delights, an England centre-half (no, not that one ), a brilliant Brazilian shape-shifting to good effect, and a Belgian on the rise.There's also World Cup Watch in Things We Love, where Dean discusses France's strange defeat to Denmark and their potential over-reliance on talented young guns, and Jack pours out some love for the two South American behemoths who have delighted in this window.Melon of the Week is awarded to some senility in the Portuguese camp, whilst Sam's Gibberish includes the price hikes at the supermarket that are giving him nightmares.It's Ranks!If you'd like more from us, especially during the World Cup, we'd love to have you on board as part of our Ultras! 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.

28 Sep 20221h 2min

It's under two months to the World Cup, but which positions for which teams are giving their managers headaches? We discuss the biggest logjam positions in the international realm, from England's right-backs to Spain's left-backs, and from the glut of glorious attacking players for both Argentina & Brazil, to France's ridiculous depth at centre-back.There's Things We Love as well, where we discuss Ethan Nwaneri's emergence as the youngest player in English top-flight history; Iñaki and Nico Williams' goalscoring heroics for Athletic Club and their international call-ups for separate nations; and Granada's coming to fore as Spanish Segunda football continues through the international break.And finally, we discuss an absolute madhouse of a weekend in terms of red cards and melons - in both the Melon of the Week and the extended 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.

21 Sep 202256min

Teenagers are fleeting - one minute past their 20th birthday, and they're gone into the big wide world of everyday footballers - so we have to give them their due whilst we can. And it seems only yesterday that we were punctuating this list with Ryan Gravenberch, Nuno Mendes - and even Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland. But the seasons flow, players grow and new wonderkids wind up on the block every single season, so it's time to put them in order for 2022. We talk a host of names, from a Barcelona cohort including Ansu Fati, Gavi and reigning title-holder Pedri, Eduardo Camavinga, Borussia Dortmund's latest gems off the production line, Harvey Elliott (how is he still elegible?!), Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz and many more. Sam also chucks in a big prediction for this season for each of his top five.Things We Love focuses on Graham Potter's rise to the top table of European football management, a rake of late moments for the big guns in Serie A, and Sporting's recovery after a tough start to the season - with some love for some names who were maybe in danger of slipping into unfulfilled promise territory. There's a Melon of the Week out of Turin (or multiple, being frank) and we do a quick draft to select our teams that we'll focus on for the upcoming 2022 World Cup.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.

14 Sep 20221h 1min

The transfer window has closed and we've had a couple of games in each league, so whilst pre-season predictions are fun, this feels like a good time to lock our selections in for the season - which can only mean it's 5x5 time. The concept is simple - we each pick how we think the top five in England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain are going to look when the curtain falls in May.We look at what happened last time out, before working through our selections, our thoughts on how a shedload of sides have started their campaigns, and some more rogue calls from Jack, where heart continues to take precedence over head.There's a quick Things We Love - where Sam talks his first dive into management, and Jack talks a fairy story out of Exeter. There's also a Melon of the Week, a Gibberish Ranking and the poems are back to kick things off. It's Ranks!To pick up our special deal with NordVPN, head to https://nordvpn.com/ranksfc to get a free month and a load off a 2-year-subscription.And of course, if you want more from us, you can join the Rank Squad Ultras on Patreon! 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.

7 Sep 20221h 14min

Hello Rank Squad! Welcome to our third and final episode of this week, this time looking back at the transfer window as a whole and working out where we think the best deals, steals and keels have been found. Jack and Sam split the rankings into four parts - best big-money deal (over £40m), best low-cost deal (under £15m), best loan deal and, controversially, the deals where we think clubs might have dropped a bit of a clanger. 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.

2 Sep 202255min

Hello Rank Squad! Deadline Day will soon be upon us, and we've set DJ to work in order to line up TEN of the biggest stories and sagas that will look to go right to the wire this summer. From the world's biggest players to free agents looking for a new home, title contenders and relegation battlers, we've covered loads of deals, rumours and late dramas that may well go down to the final hours. There's also Things We Love, which this week entails the off between Richarlison and Brennan Johnson at the City Ground on Sunday, as well as Ander Herrera's homecoming to Athletic Club. And there's a VERY contentious Melon of the Week from Toxic Dean, as well as Sam's Gibberish, which truly has some questionable takes also. It's Ranks!To pick up our special deal with NordVPN, head to https://nordvpn.com/ranksfc to get a free month and a load off a 2-year-subscription. 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.

31 Aug 20221h 13min