If we have some fans booing McCarthy while he is working on the pitch to get us into Europe then it would just show that we have some of the most moronic support in the league.

If people want to boo Benni then do so when he returns playing for someone else not when we have an important game that we need to win and not after he has scored 20+ goals this season.

That said I don't understand booing players anyway. It usually comes back to bite us on the bum.

Look at those who booed Bellamy. If Hughes goes in for him he might just remember that and choose another club instead. Players are human after all and will be affected by it.

If I can wan you off one book though, avoid at all costs the Samurillion by Tolkin. Its JRR's notes on the back storey and a more impenatrable, badly written book that I have ever had the misfortune to read. Bar anything by Irvine Welsh that is

I think you mean 'The Silmarillion' by Tolkien. I'd agree it's not for anything other than big fans of Tolkien and for that reason I thought it was great although I can see why many would be put off. It certainly isn't as accessible as 'The Hobbit' or 'The Lord of the Rings'.

An interesting story of true crime I have been reading is 'Killing Pablo' by Mark Bowden (who also wrote 'Black Hawk Down' which I also enjoyed) which is all about the huge manhunt for what was, probably, the world's richest ever criminal Pablo Escobar the Colombian drug lord. At his height was said to be among the richest men in the world and worth £5billion or something ridiculous. Apparently at one stage he was supplying 80% of the cocaine going into the US.

It's an interesting tale of a villain whose sheer scope of power brought a country to its knees and involves President Bush (the first one) trying - and failing - to bring him down before his running for re-election. Also Pablo was a bit of a character and had the knack of PR down perfectly. Journalists sent to grill him would end up fawning over his wit and erudition before giggling along like star-stuck schoolgirls.

Recommended.

######, the ones I mentioned were excellent movies

Watched Street Fighter again the other day, for all it's faults (and Kylie Minogue's horrendous acting) it is one of the few game to movies that stuck pretty much smack bang in line with the game story

Damn right.

Crap story though wasn't it?

Resident Evil, Tombraider, Final Fantasy, Pirates of the Carribean (inspired by the Monkey Island series), The Wizard, AVP

Street Fighter, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Wing Commander, Super Mario Bros...

...the list of rubbish films from computer games is seemingly endless.

Overrated.

Maybe you should try Love in The Time of Cholera. That's an interesting read and maybe a bit more linear than One Hundred Years of Solitude in which there were so many people in a family through the generations that they seemed to get mixed up into one.

I've just finished Royal Flash, one of the Flashman novels by George Macdonald Fraser. Very entertaining and historically humourous. The way he works the chararcter into actual historic events is brilliant.

I'd actually say that is one of the weaker ones in the series with its allusions to Prisoner of Zenda. Personal favourites are Flash at the Charge! and Flashman and the Dragon.

You were spot on with Newcastle, Reading and Portsmouth there as well krislu.

I'm not too surprised. 'After Hours' is a personal favourite of mine hence its inclusion. 'Raging Bull' is a great spectacle but I found it hard to really warm to. It's not really a film that is easy to watch IMO. Still...it is according to others. Each to their own.

Gangs of New York, other than for a great performance by Daniel Day Lewis, was a film I didn't enjoy.

What is your favourite 92er?

Top 5 Scorsese movies...

1. Goodfellas

2. Taxi Driver

3. Mean Streets

4. King of Comedy

5. After Hours

Blimey...no room for Raging Bull and Cape Fear? The man is just too good. Actually The Departed, even though I enjoyed it, would only just get into my personal Scorsese top 10. It's decent enough but a bit Scorsese Lite compared to some of the true cinematic masterpieces the man has produced.

EDIT - Whoops forgot Casino and The Color of Money. Loved those as well.

Jesus, it was just a flippant remark...

Yes and I was just saying that The Oscars are a stinking pile of turd with steam coming out the top.

Greatest Scorsese movie? I'd have to go for this one...

Officially it's the best film of 2006. But I see what you're saying.

What are you talking about? If you are trying to equate the Oscars with conferring "official" status on a film then you are very wide of the mark. There's no "officially" about the American Academy Awards. They are crap and voted for by a few thousand pensioners in Florida more than anything. Hence films like Raging Bull and Pulp Fiction losing out to Ordinary People and Forrest Gump.

Actually I do think 'The Departed' is a bit over-rated. It's certainly not vintage Scorsese and it is bizarre that he won an Oscar for it after better work of his such as Goodfellas, King of Comedy and Taxi Driver were passed over. I'd also say it's not quite as good as the original. That said it certainly isn't rubbish and has some great ensemble acting from a host of stars on top form including the likes of Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin. Still each to their own. Good film but not Scorsese great. In fact it wouldn't get near a Scorsese top 5.

Well yes and er no, 'Infernal Affairs'

Also Chow Yun-Fat isn't in it. It has Andy Lau and the excellent Tony Leung in the Damon/Di Caprio roles.

£1.5 million for Dunn is without doubt Hughes's worst signing pound for pound. Fat boy would have been free next month - had he really wanted to move to Rovers for football reasons he could have signed a pre-contract in January and got himself into shape to be able to tackle a Hughes pre-season.

I don't think players can actually do that unless it is for a foreign team.

As for Dunn...this season is almost a write-off and we just have to hope that, with a full pre-season behind him, he starts to become the player he has been threatening to be for the last five or so years. 2007/2008 is make or break for Dunn.

An interesting new film coming out soon is "Grindhouse" which is a film of two halves. One half directed by Quentin Tarantino and the other by Roberto Rodriguez in what is, I think, his first film since the brilliant and visually striking "Sin City".

Looks pretty gory but unfortunately not out in cinemas here until June. If it is anything like "Sin City" it will be best seen in a cinema. Grindhouse trailers

I've also read that he "should have 25 goals by now if he worked harder". Well why don't we put that money towards a 15 goal a season partner and have TWO dangerous strikers, instead of fantacising about replacing our best one?

We might already have one. Derbyshire has already scored seven and was barely in the team for the first third of the season.

By the way someone mentioned Roberts above. Jason is English and was born in London I believe. Played for Grenada because of family ties.

As Colin mentioned 'One hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez on another thread I will recommend it on here. An awesome book by one of the greatest writers in the world. It is in a genre described as 'magical realism' and is a pleasure to read.

There would be little point in a player signing for us, on the basis of a release clause that allows him to leave if a bigger club came sniffing, then having the clause at £50million or something equally unlikely to be met.

Well...obviously.

However a £5million release clause is still too low to agree to. Once signing-on fees etc are taken into consideration it means that if Benni was a huge success for us then when he leaves we have little profit to show and are again without a quality striker. Meaning that if we did get a bargain who turns out to be the bee's knees then once we lose him we have to replace him by looking in the bargain bin once again.

A £10million release fee clause is reasonable - or even £8million - but £5million is a sign of poor negotiating.

I'm hoping the fee mentioned is a mix-up as Benni's Porto release clause was something like £5million, perhaps a little bit more.

Rovers took a chance on a player who had never been tried and tested in the Premiership (many others with as impressive pedigrees as Benni have failed) as well as one whom a number of other Premiership clubs had shied away from. A release clause too low suggests it is Rovers taking all the chances and, if it proves a success, only the player and his agent that really stand to benefit.

While I'm not surprised at the nationals bringing it up it does annoy me when the local rag picks up on the story and puts on their front page "I could manage Man U". Not really what the readership are wanting to hear from a local paper that makes many of its sales from the coverage of the Rovers...

Hughes : United job wouldn't faze me

Perhaps a better question would be to ask how Rovers are supposed to buy successful players in the first place without putting a release clause in their contract?

Perhaps the likes of Bellamy and McCarthy wouldn't have signed for us without one.

I hope it's not true as well, but can understand if it is.

That's not a better question as I've no problem with the release clauses as long as they are at a level which allows Rovers to gain as well from the player having been successful at Ewood.

Bellamy I can understand. McCarthy may have asked for a clause but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have turned down a Premiership move he had been gagging for over the previous year and more over it.

The Straits Times (Singapore's national daily) has quotes from benni taken from the "United Review" ahead of tomorrow's match, linking him with a summer move to them, stating that he has a 5m clause and that "If the big clubs want you, then they will get you. If Blackburn is offered the money, then of course i'm interested".

How are Rovers supposed to get maximum value for their successful players if they allow such ridiculously low release clauses? For a £2.5million fee we should be looking at £10million release clause not just a few million more.

Hope it isn't true.

For all his faults qualifying was a doddle under Sven.

Get Mac out, Sven in to qualify us and a new appointment for the finals!

Maclaren is now a dead man walking after that interview. The press will savage him! Musing here..... BUT is it beyond the realms of possibility that Maclaren has been angling for a pay-off in the shortest possible time from day 1? Fantasy? Maybe but it would certainly explain a lot.

I'd say it's more likely he isn't very good. After all it's not like he was any different at The Riverside.

With all these conspiracy theories thenodrog you are starting to turn into our very own version of Oliver Stone.

Will be good to see Gerrard and Hargreaves given a go together in the middle. Five days too late but that's McClaren for you.

Why do people keep calling players like David Dunn and Frank Lampard fat when they are obviously nothing of the sort?

According to Wikipedia Bentley's nickname is 'Tanky'....what is that all about?