The Truth: Is Simone Inzaghi the Most Underrated Manager in the World?

Every transfer season there's deals that don't work out, and whilst some are impossible to predict, there's others where the warning signs are truly there - we look at a few big money deals that we have reservations about for various reasons from injuries to physicality to difficult fits. And, back to do it is the Rank God Sam Tighe, returning from his honeymoon to retake his place back in your headphones on Ranks FC.Things We Love talks watching football in tricky time zones, Erling Haaland's big move to Manchester City and the story of Bristol Rovers' ridiculous last-day win to seal their promotion; Melon of the Week is given out to a Championship goalkeeper who performed a gaffe straight out of a 90's bloopers reel, and Sam takes charge of the Gibberish again to talk things that baffled him in Bali.It's Ranks!To join our amazing Ultras community on Patreon, where you get an extra two Podcasts a week and access to our Discord server for a fiver a month, click 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.

11 Maj 20221h

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 Man City vs. Liverpool and Inter vs. Milan at the top of the tables, to the survival salvos taking place in the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga; as well as the race to reach Europe in Spain and Italy, where all sorts is still going on in the Europa and Conference League battles, and the fight to reach the top flight in the 2. Bundesliga.As you might expect, the Things We Love from a rather hoarse Dean and Jack talks about Fulham's dismantling of Luton Town and the celebrations that followed as the Whites won a league title for the first time in over 20 years, and also heads to LA to look at the job that Steve Cherundolo is doing as manager of a resurgent LAFC.There's also a Melon of the Week from the lower tiers of English football, and the Gibberish Rankings looks at some of the most ridiculous trophies that are handed out across the world. 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.

4 Maj 20221h

What’s happening Rank Squad! It’s getting scarily close to silly season, so it’s time for our first big transfer ranking of the 2022 summer window - our first look at the biggest stories that are going to dominate the back pages in the off-season. Dean walks us through five of the biggest names that are going to be either moving, or talked about moving, for the entirety of this summer. From a Norwegian target man coming home to his boyhood Premier League club, to a French galactico-in-waiting perhaps finally making the move everyone’s been expecting for years; from the in-demand I̶r̶i̶s̶h̶ English midfielder who’s apparently commanding a 9-figure-fee, to a out-of-contract defender being courted by all of Europe’s elite; and two No.9s having very different seasons who might both be on the move - we cover all the headlines. Before those headlines though, there’s a quick fire questions section from some of the best we got on Twitter this week discussing transfer lines on Arsenal outgoings and their next No. 9, Newcastle United’s plans for the summer, USMNT footballers on the move, potential targets for Chelsea at CB, Nkunku’s future, Real Madrid’s deadwood moving onwards and quality or quantity for newly promoted teams. There’s also time for a little Things We Love, where Jack starts us off (of course)by talking about his beloved Real Betis winning their first trophy in 17 years as they won the Copa del Rey on Saturday, and the poetry of a momentous occasion in Verdiblanco. If you want more, here’s the link to an article that he wrote on the subject. Plus, there’s Melon(s) of the Week from Serie A, and a Gibberish Ranking.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.

27 Apr 20221h 4min

We've come to the sharp end of the European competitions, and there's everything to play for in the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League.We rank the four contenders left in each: Liverpool, Villarreal, Manchester City and Real Madrid in the UCL; West Ham United, Eintracht Frankfurt, RB Leipzig and Glasgow Rangers in the UEL; and Feyenoord, Olympique Marseille, AS Roma and Leicester City in the UECL.Dean and Jack work their way through the three competitions, having a go at working out each team's percentage of winning their respective tournaments, and analysing the semi-final matchups as we go.There's also a Melon of the Week all the way from Brazil, and our Gibberish is about things that Dean is just not capable of doing. 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.

20 Apr 20221h 8min

I know what you're going to say! This season hasn't even finished yet and you're already thinking about the next one! But this game never stops, and the best clubs are thinking far in advance - so we thought we'd do so too. And to help us take a peek at some of the teams we're most excited about for 2022/23, we enlisted the help of Alex Stewart, of Tifo Football fame.We talk through the forward planning going on at Roma, Arsenal and Barcelona, as well as taking a little look at Leipzig; where Sam talks through what's gone on this year, Alex gives us some insights on why there's reasons to be excited, and the returning Dean Jones walks us through the latest updates on transfer dealings and rumours going on ahead of the opening of the window.There's also Things We Love, where DJ highlights the brilliance of Manchester City vs. Liverpool and why we should be soaking it in, Sam discusses Porto's new record run for unbeaten games in the Portuguese Primeira, and Jack spotlights the mad race for promotion in the 2. Bundesliga with just five games to go. There's a Melon from Mexico, and Dean takes the Gibberish mantle to talk about things that surprised him from his recent trip to Chicago. 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.

13 Apr 20221h 4min

It's that time of year where conversations start happening about Players of the Season and the like, but we wanted to dig under the surface before we get to the sharp end of those debates. So, in Dean's absence, we're joined by our friend Mark Carey, Data Analyst at The Athletic, to look at some of the players whose numbers have thrown up something interesting to look at in a few seasons that might have slid underneath your radar.We race across Europe, taking in a centre-back in Spain, a goalkeeper and a winger in the Premier League, a midfielder in France and a striker in Germany, as well as a few honourable mentions from Italy and beyond, covering all sorts of ground about a few players who are having special seasons or who have jumped up a level to maybe earn themselves a move.There's also Things We Love, where Sam takes a look at his favourite groups from last week's World Cup Draw and Jack discusses a very interesting weekend as the Serie A title race enters it's final straight with three horses neck-and-neck; plus there's a Gibberish Ranking regarding some alternative destinations for Kylian Mbappe this summer. 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.

6 Apr 20221h 5min

The wait is finally over for the Maple Leafs - for just the second time in their history, and for the first time since 1986, Canada are going to the Men's World Cup, having topped CONCACAF's qualifying pool in some style. Canada fan and content creator Aaron Moniz joins us to explain just why this is such a special moment in the country's history, how it went down, who we should be keeping an eye on, and what it means for Canadian soccer going forward.Things We Love also has an international feel. Sam kicks us off by singing the praises of the also-qualified Ecuadorians; Dean discusses Captain America Christian Pulisic scoring a hat-trick to pretty much see off the demons of the USMNT's failed qualification campaign for World Cup 2018; and Jack sings about how nice it is to have an Ireland team that it's easy to get behind - one which makes you proud to be a fan.There's also a Melon of the Week, kindly provided by the higher-ups in this World Cup's bureaucracy, whilst the Gibberish discusses sources of annoyance and potential solutions to them. 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.

30 Mars 20221h 19min

Hello Rank Squad!Welcome to a very special episode of Ranks, in association with New Balance! This weekend we headed off to Rome to experience one of the most fervent, intense rivalries in world football - Roma vs. Lazio, in all it's glory at the Stadio Olimpico - where the Giallorossi put on a show to beat their Biancocelesti neighbours 3-0, with Tammy Abraham grabbing the headlines by scoring a brace.We start off with a supercut live from the stadium, before a ranking of five things we learned from our experiences in the Eternal City - from the atmosphere in the city itself and the fan cultures, to just how special this relationship between Abraham and Mourinho could be, and what this means for Roma going forward.There's also a Melon of the Week of course, and Sam's Gibberish gives you a little insight into a few non-football related experiences from our weekend abroad.It’s Ranks!For those of you who might be interested in joining our Ultras for two extra episodes a week, we'd love to have you on board! 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.

23 Mars 202258min