Ranking New Managerial Appointments for 25/26

It's time for The Truth!Today, Sam and Dougie are looking at Brighton & Hove Albion, who are having an impressive season - but also one that's been permeated with strange results and odd streaks of form that have been up and down. On the verge of the Champions League places, things look pretty good under Fabian Hurzeler, who was brought in from St Pauli at the start of the season, who guided them to their best ever start, before going on an 8-game unbeaten run, then losing 7-0 to Nottingham Forest, and bouncing back with a four game win streak that has them looking well-placed for a return to European football. We look at a big summer spending spree, the new additions and how they've fitted in, tactical changes throughout the course of the campaign and where the future lies for a club who have made a habit of hitting the nail on the head with almost everything they've done in recent years. Is their Champions League chase an outlier in what has been a weird Premier League season, or should we be expecting the Seagulls' trajectory to keep going firmly in an upward direction? Well, 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.

14 Mar 47min

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second of two Champions League Takeaway episodes on the feed this week, with four more games to dissect - headlined by another 120 minutes of madness, this time from Madrid, where Real needed penalties to get the better of Atleti in a game the hosts will feel aggrieved not to have won (we've heard that one before...)We break down the chaos of the penalty shootout, including Julian Alvarez's disallowed spot kick for a double-touch, examining the rules and what exactly happened; before looking back at the game as a whole and examining some of the individual performances that caught our eye, for good and for bad.Then in Part Two, we take a look at a heavily rotated Arsenal's 2-2 draw with PSV - it didn't matter, progression was all but guaranteed; Aston Villa's 3-0 win over Club Brugge where Marco Asensio in particular shone once again - what a signing he has been for Unai Emery's men; and a vastly improved display from Borussia Dortmund as they came from a goal behind to beat Lille in France and progress to another quarter final. 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.

13 Mar 53min

Hello Rank Squad! In a bit of a break from tradition, and after witnessing an absorbing encounter between Liverpool and PSG at Anfield, we decided this week might be a good one to switch things up and discuss the thing everyone will be discussing come Wednesday morning - the action from the Champions League, so this is the first of two UCL Takeaway episodes that will be with you this week. We start on Merseyside, where football reminded us it's a funny old game. Liverpool were outmatched in Paris last Wednesday, but came away with a 1-0 win against PSG; but on a night where they gave a far better account of themselves at home, they ended up losing the game 1-0 and being knocked out on penalties. Work that one out. We give PSG their due for a mighty performance over two legs, and discuss just how far this very talented side could go in this competition, as well as looking at what Liverpool might have done differently, and where the squad might need to be strengthened to push forwards again next season. Then in Part Two, we move over to the rest of the action, dissecting Barcelona's 3-1 win over Benfica where Lamine Yamal and Raphinha set some more records, as well as Pedri's astounding performance in the heart of midfield. We touch on Bayern, who Dean correctly backed in our power ranking episode, and how Leverkusen melted in the heat of the knockout stages; and finish with Inter, who made light work of Feyenoord even with a heavily rotated squad, and who are ticking along nicely in this competition. 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.

12 Mar 47min

It's time for The Truth!Dougie's back in business with Sam after a well-earned week off and it's a return with a bang as we turn our attention to Manchester United - always a behemoth of a topic, who are currently seemingly locked inside a battle with themselves. After a dreary start to 2025, questions are being asked of Ruben Amorim's stewardship, and if United have actually got worse since he took over. Now, to be fair, Amorim himself said when he took the job that things were going to get worse before they got better, but much of the fanbase was expecting more of an uptick in form five months in than what we've seen on the pitch, especially after defeat to Fulham in the FA Cup wiped out one of the two remaining options that United had for silverware this campaign. But is that criticism fair? Amorim has struggled to get this squad ticking, but there are mitigating factors - the players are taking some time to adapt to his system (those that can), whilst the most impactful players in this squad have been struck down by injuries just as things were taking an upturn for them. Is that enough though, to absolve him of fault? Should United ride out this storm, trust in their new manager and try to build something long term? Or have we already seen enough to suggest that this isn't going to work and that a change is needed before United get bogged down in another cycle not going anywhere? Well, 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.

7 Mar 44min

Hello Rank Squad!It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your late night delivery following the action - following the first legs of the Round of 16, where we saw a lot of favourites come out on top, but perhaps not in the way we expected! Wednesday night saw Bayern's 3-0 demolition of Leverkusen - did Xabi Alonso overthink this one? - as well as Liverpool dropping an all-timer of a smash and grab job against PSG, where Alisson Becker gave a masterclass in the Redmen net. Barcelona also showed their versatility by beating Benfica with 10 men, whilst Inter were incredibly mature (and kept ANOTHER clean sheet) in a fairly routine 2-0 win over Feyenoord at De Kuip. In Part Two we move onto Tuesday's action, starting with a topsy-turvy Madrid derby that saw three wondergoals - and Real Madrid taking a narrow 2-1 advantage over city rivals Atletico Madrid - thanks to some magical footwork from Brahim Diaz. We also chat through Arsenal's demolition of PSG where the Gunners reloaded the ammunition tank to score seven after back-to-back blanks; Aston Villa's 3-1 win over Club Brugge where they were perhaps a little fortunate the scoreline looks so pleasant; and Dortmund dropping off to allow Lille to fight back for a 1-1 draw at the Westfalenstadion. 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.

6 Mar 1h

Hello Rank Squad!Today we decided to take a look at the current state of the Premier League, which has had an exclusive winners club since it broke away from the Football League in 1992. Seven teams have won a 'Premier League' title since that time, and we wanted to take a look at who could become the eighth. (Yes, we know football didn't begin in 1992, but it makes for an interesting discussion...) Dean walks us through his top five contenders to join that winner's circle, discussing Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, and why each should look to the future with hope and optimism. Jack doesn't agree with them all, but that's part of the fun. Before we get into that, there's time to discuss the goings on from the FA Cup at the weekend - which Dean looks at through a personal lens, and the levels between Fulham and Manchester United throughout his life; whilst Jack is just excited that there's a real possibility we see a new name on the trophy this season. 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.

5 Mar 1h 7min

It's time for The Truth!Dougie's out on holiday this week so Jack hops over from the producer's chair to the co-host's one, joining Sam to go deep on Germany's most famous and most successful club, Bayern Munich - who are currently eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table after falling to third last season. But does that league position potentially conceal the fact that Bayern remain somewhat unconvincing, especially against better teams and in particular, in the Champions League? We explore Vincent Kompany's tenure so far in the Bayern hot seat, taking a look at what we learned from his previous managerial stints and how this Bayern side are mimicking some of the traits we saw in the Championship and the Premier League. Kompany's first port of call was to restore the Rekordmeister to the top of the Bundesliga table, and he's going to do that - with it looking pretty assured right now that Bayern will be once again lifting the Bundesliga shield come the end of this domestic season; but there is still a lot of convincing to do for his side to be considered the real deal in Europe. So, are we reading too much into certain results, or are there cracks beneath the surface at Bayern that are being masqueraded by the facade of domestic dominance? Well, 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.

28 Feb 42min

Hello Rank Squad!There are 16 clubs left in the Champions League with the Playoffs done and this year, there's a bracket in place so that we can plan out routes all the way to the final in Munich. So, given we have just a week until we're back in the thick of it, we wanted to take the opportunity to examine where all those clubs are and how likely they are to be lifting the trophy in May. So, 16 to 1, we decided to do just that - explaining our reasoning and discussing why we have certain teams in (vastly!) different places in our current rankings. There's a whole lot of variation in how the two of us see things right now, with Dean's reverence for experience and pedigree clashing quite dissonantly with Jack's reliance on form and current performance. To round things off, Jack takes us on a quickfire tour of both the Europa and Conference League favourites right now, as well as a couple of wildcards to keep your eyes on on Thursday nights. 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.

26 Feb 1h 16min