The worst that can happen.....

Commiserations AJ, I mean that genuinely in spite of my own relief at the outcome.

I really do feel for the three young lads that missed the pens.

Having a 19 y/o taking pen 5 in the shoot out is an unbelievable decision, rule of thumb for these is have your go-to guys up early and late.

And of course we now have the inevitable social media backlash, which is just unbelievable.

At the risk of coming across as a complete Marina Hyde fanboy, she nails the Johnson/Patel nonsense.

Very little you have said that I can disagree with. Of course, that's the England/Scotland/U.K. we all want.

It's one of those oddities of being 4 nations within 1. I think it's quite hard for the national broadcasters to remember that they are broadcasting to people who might not be supporting England - Radio 5 is certainly best avoided! The print media I won't comment on as I only ever read The Guardian and they tend not to jump on the bandwagon.

As for Sweet Caroline, I have no idea, but it surely beats Three Lions!

Incidentally, I am not supporting Birmingham whilst they are managed by Lee

Bowyer - I do have principles!

I can certainly agree with the sentiment, yes.

But I'll neither be watching the final or supporting England.......that's in spite of backing Italy pre tournament.

His last paragraph also chimed, if I saw any mechanism by which Westminster returns a progressive government based on decency and commonality of purpose then my attitude to Scottish independence would change.

I also agree about the players, they seem, collectively, fundamentally decent, well informed, young men.

They're certainly much harder to dislike than previous England squads (though Southgate seems to have dropped a bollock in the media today by reverting to cliché in his "blitz" interview).

But it's not really about the players, well on the field it is, but I'm talking more broadly than that.

If England win the tourney, the vessels making the most noise won't be Rashford, Sterling or the millions of decent English people like you, it'll be the gammony, taking-the-knee booing, plastic furniture throwing, Brexit types.

My support of the Scottish national team has waned to almost non existence over the years.

I cancelled my travel club membership when George Burley appointed Terry Butcher to the coaching staff.

Not because he's English, but because I find him objectionable as a person.

He bought into the "tradition " of rangers when he played for them, he's always come across as a fairly reactionary type and when he managed Motherwell and Inverness they were two of the vilest sides I'd ever seen.......and I saw rangers in the 70s.

Anyway, I've kind of lost interest in Scotland, 2014 didn't help. I've tried unsuccessfully to rekindle, but one thing that's remained is my horror at the notion of England winning a tournament.

It's mainly rooted in football rivalry, but the media, the nominally British media, really don't help.

The likes of Lee Dixon and Rio Ferdinand et al, do need to remember they're broadcasting to the whole of the UK, rather than simply England.

Being a football fan you need to accept rivals winning things. You don't need to like it, but it shouldn't induce the reaction this has done in me.......even taking account of Johnson and Patel's behaviour. (Staunch England fan Priti would doubtless have tried to prevent Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford's mum, and many others, from entering the UK.)

These are flaws in my personality, I own them and maybe when I grow up I'll get past them. :-)

For now, I know it's best I simply disengage.

I popped onto the other place to check out Rach's Marsha thread, I looked on the Euro 2020 thread and saw that wee scamp Dr Oboogie is managing to live rent free in the heads of a sizeable number of posters.

Hopefully I'll manage to reach a place that I can do the bantz.....not there yet.

Incidentally, when did the England fans adopt "Sweet Caroline"?

That's been a terracing ditty up here for the guts of a decade.

• When it comes to football I support Scotland, and I would normally wish England well but probably not watch the game. This time round, Gareth Southgate’s group will get my full support, and above all I feel I know more about these lads than I have any other football team. Instead of reading about mansions or players behaving badly, this group reminds me how we should rally behind a set of progressive values and not a flag. They’ve made news by campaigning for children, taking the knee despite boos and hisses, and by publishing lettersabout the England they want to live in.

It’s woke, really. And it’s great. Normally England winning the Euros wouldn’t change how I think about independence, but if they win their other battles, who knows? I would still want Scotland to win at football… Alexander Bunch Edinburgh

Can you agree with this @MagicRatAFC ? Letter in today's Guardian.

AJ, I have no issue with the millions of decent English fans supporting their team and taking pleasure/joy in their achievements.

As I said, it's the nightmare scenario north of the border (how did you guys do when Villa won the European Cup in 82? 😁) but "that's fitba" as the saying goes.

The "British" broadcasting is already unwatchable for me and it's only going to get worse.

I had no clue Rio Ferdinand was such an enormous bell-end until watching him pre/post a few of the earlier England games.

As you say, an England win could lead to a huge spike in "Little Ingurlanderism" when we've already seen that OD-ed on post-Brexit.

I think I'll just go on a football blackout/hibernation until a goodly period after next Sunday, then see what the lie of the land is.

Oh dear!

I am, of course, pretty excited at the turn of events. My only negative thought is that victory could, sadly, give Johnson a boost, even though he shares no responsibility for the teams progress!

Sorry Mr. Rat - come on England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿