Following weeks of intensive negotiations with a number of interested parties, Boyd penned a two-year deal with Boro yesterday afternoon after agreeing personal terms and completing a medical over the weekend.
The Scotland international could have been playing Champions League football next month if he had signed a new deal with his former employers, Rangers, but instead he will be turning out on Teesside as Boro kick off their Championship campaign against Ipswich.
Boro boss Gordon Strachan is understandably delighted to have landed his leading summer target, and as he prepares to take part in a behindclosed- doors warm-up game prior to leaving for a pre-season tour of Ireland, fit-again midfielder Flood is equally enthusiastic about Boyd's arrival.
It's a statement of what we're trying to do, said Flood.
By turning down Rangers, he's passed up the chance to play in the Champions League.
It's obviously a really big signing for us, and it just goes to show this club has a lot of ambition. He's come down here and liked what he's seen, and it looks like he's got on well with the gaffer at the time. I'm sure having the gaffer here will have been a major pull for him to come.
Flood has first-hand experience of Boyd's striking skills, having played on the opposite side of the Old Firm divide during his time in Glasgow.
Boyd scored 127 goals in 190 appearances for Rangers, and won two Scottish titles, two Scottish FA Cups and two Scottish League Cups during his four years at Ibrox.
He has also scored seven senior goals for Scotland, and Flood expects his predatory skills to be ideally suited to life in the Championship.
He's one of those strikers who always seems to be scoring goals, he said. Whenever he's in the box, the ball seems to fall for him, and whenever he gets a chance, he always seems to take it. Now that we've got him, I think he will be a great signing for the club.
The majority of the Boro squad already have a week's warm-weather training in La Manga under their belt, but that hasn't stopped the club's coaching staff devising a punishing schedule for the opening two weeks of pre-season.
It's been tough, said Flood, who has completed his recovery from the cruciate injury that ruled him out of the final 11 matches of last season.
We've done a lot of running over the last week. The manager wasn't very happy with our fitness last year so we've worked a lot on that.
It's definitely up there with one of the hardest pre-seasons I've ever done. For example, the other day we did three 800ms followed by three 1,200ms straight off. They were quite tough.
It's been tough, but hopefully we'll feel the benefit at the start of the season.
Source: Northern Echo
Source: Northern Echo