Gribz

If the Championship is rubbish then what is the SPL? Id rather watch Swansea v Cardiff and Leicester v Derby than Hibs v Hearts and St Mirren v Kilmarnock. The Championship can be more exciting than the EPL at times when 5 or 6 teams can be going for the play offs.

Holland have won every game without playing great but still showed bits of good football. Spain lost their opener and have since won every game by the odd goal. Germany were the most impressive performance wise followed by Argentina and Uruguay. But football isnt won on the enjoyable eye or Arsenal would win the EPL every season. I hope Holland win as they seem to have been the strongest overall.

A list of a few free players at the moment according to Skysport: How good would Bobby Pires be for a season!!! Sign back Amdy Faye anyone???

Yip absolutely. Obviously playing for Rangers at Ibrox is a different story and is appealing but going away to the teams you mentioned wouldnt be as good as going to City ground, elland Rd etc. Only Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Hibs and Hearts are attractive away games in the SPL. Thats why it wouldnt bother me if the OF moved down south but had to start off in League 2. Im pretty sure we'd be up to league 1 after one season and look at the teams you have their these days....Sheff Wed, Southampton, Charlton (And in recent seasons Leeds, Norwich, QPR, Man City) - id rather be playing them than St Mirren.

Add Porrini into that aswell, he was a centre half in Italy but played RB for us. To be fair to Durie he was a good signing.

Peterboro got relegated Ok Scunthorpe arent appealing but the Championship is like a Premiership 2 these days. I watched it all last season and was impressed. You have Forest, Leicester, Sheff Utd, QPR, Coventry, Norwich, Leeds....etc - all ex prem teams and all have big crowds every week. Id rather be playing Forest away than a league cup game away to Forfar!

If it was a 1 season deal then Id pick the EPL with Wigan or Blackpool. But if its a 4 year deal Id go for Boro at the moment as I would say they can get promoted this season. But TBH id have tried Turkey ahead of Boro. To be fair to Boyd I dont think he made a knee jerk reaction in joining Boro.

4-4-2 can still work if it is applied correctly. As Alan McInally said the other say its garbage that 4-4-2 seems to not work anymore, its simply down to the players you pick and the tactics. He was arguing back against the other pundits who say it didnt work and he was spot on, all England needed to do was play Carrick with Lampard in the middle, J Cole on the left and Milner or Lennon on the right. Gerrard would go upfront with Rooney almost like 4-4-1-1. Had we kept Novo then 4-4-2 would have been ok for us although Im still against Davis being on the right. But It would have been a midfield 4 of: Davis______Edu______Thomson______Novo. But now we have zero width. I want to see Lafferty upfront, and as for Naismith he really has to convince me.

IMO he has done what Roy Keane did - just turned out for Celtic, I think thats all he wanted to do. His interests will be on 1 final big money move. Im sure Aston Villa will sign him. Agreed that he is a class player though, Spurs are silly to rid him.

Bullard has been in Glasgow for about 3 weeks now. If he stays injury free he'd be a good signing.

Cant believe I woke up at 2:30am just to be let down on that game. It was awful. Germany missed Mueller, their flow couldnt get going. Bit of a bullet header from Puyol though. They havent played well this tournament but are still in the final. C'mon the Dutch.

Probably one of the first few names on the team sheet for me. Id have McGregor, Bougherra, Davis, Novo and Miller in my team straight away. Novo gave is a good balance when playing almost any formation as he was good on the left, even better on the right and still managed 25 goals when he played as the central striker.

Have to disagree with this to an extent. Id go to Boro over Wigan and Blackpool anyday. Id be amazed if those 2 teams are above 15th in the league next season and in the future. Yet Boro do have one of the most loyal and ambitious chairman around. Steve Gibson has bank rolled this club for the last 15 years but hasnt put them in a mess. I would bet his vision is to get the club back in the top flight long term. He got rid of Southgate as he wanted auto promotion - turned out to be the wrong move but the amibition was still there. The only concern is Strachan hasnt made much of an impact and his signings have been a bit shocking. As for Boyd threads Im sure we will be keeping an eye on him next season.

Doesnt mean the ability of Fletcher is now double Laffertys. Fletcher didnt do much more at Burnely than Lafferty did yet his fee doubled. This just shows transfer fees are way out of line down south. Not to mention Lafferty has also looked good everytime he has played for N ireland.

I think Lafferty will score goals this season also and be a better all round player if he is played through the middle. As mentioned before he still has a bit of maturing to do which will come. The fee wasnt his fault and considering Steven Fletcher went for 3 million id say 3.75m for Lafferty may prove to be ok long term.

I didnt think Ferguson would return but it will be Scotlands loss. I felt he was a better team player for Scotland than he was for Rangers and this form has went onto Birmingham. When the spotlight isnt all about him he is a better player. The likes of Fletcher and Broon will miss him. Im beginning to fear that Scotland are still in decline with levein in charge and that its going to be a bit of Berti Vogts all over again with players earning caps who nobody recognises.

A wide player should be top target IMO but lets make sure its not another Rothen. 1 player I like is Matthew Etherington at Stoke, i felt he was underrated when at West Ham. I read he is unhappy at Stoke. Wages would be the problem but thats the calibre of player Id be hoping for.

Considering he was a big game player who could do well in all types of matches he should have been offered a much better deal. Definatly madness to allow him to go so easily.

TBH Ive never seen the guy play or cant recall seeing him last season. So he is a centre half turned left back like Papac? I definatly feel we needed cover at full back with S Smith moving on and if the guy can play at centre half then all the better also should wilson and/or Bougherra be on their way.

Anyone know how much he is going to be on at Boro? I agree with Zappa that they are more of a Premier Club than some of the teams that were in that division last season (Wigan, Hull, Portsmouth). But they are a mid table EPL side at best. Their fans seem to turn up when it suits them. You cant say that for Birmingham or even West Brom, they both fill their stadiums every week. Ascender could be right also his bluff backfiring.

Final should be a great game whoever makes it through from the 2nd semi tonight. Id like to see Germant go through, I think they have been by far the better side so far. Holland are the only team with 100% in the competition though.

Ive always thought McFadden is a very decent player. He isnt a world beater but has held his own in the premier League for a number of years now.

Holland v Spain or Germany makes for a good final. Uruguay still may have something to say about it though!!

Never heard of either! They also have George Boateng on trial. He is getting on a bit but still a decent player.

Not sure whether this is official or not as I havent seen it elsewhere. I think most on here know I wasnt a Boyd fan at all. But all I can say is we will soon hear him say "i should never have left Rangers". Anyway, I look forward to seeing how he plays for Boro. My money is on him doing nothing! The Championshis is a good but tough league. Strachan has bought Celtics worst 4 players and now Boyd. They will do well if they get into the playoffs next season but i cant see it. Southgate got the sack when they were 2nd in the league.