No he won't, yes he should, not a bloody chance. Next question.

I just don't understand that logic. Wishing ill on the club you support in order to get rid of a manager you dislike makes no sense to me at all. Regardless of how you or I feel about a manager, a chairman, a player, whoever; we follow the club first and foremost. To me this means that the success of the club takes precedence over everything else, including personal emnities. There are many odious people in football (take a look at the average NUFC starting XI), but no individual is bigger than the club they play for or manage. Whether Souness goes now, at the end of the season or in ten years time, chances are we will both be supporting Blackburn long after he has gone, just as we both supported them long before he came here. What gets my back up most is your use of the label "Souness-lovers" and similar, as if we follow the man himself rather than the team. We wanted Souness to do well because, by extention, it meant the club was doing well. When this happened we gave him our support not because of who he was, but because of what he had given us - success. Given the season we are having it is only fair to ask whether or not the club would benefit from a change of management - not because we like / dislike Souness any more / less than we have done in the past, but because it is in the best interests of BRFC to do so.

Pretty wretched to be honest. The club we love is struggling badly and we are in danger of being relegated. Most of the people on here are hurting as a result, given that we desperately want our team to do well. You on the other hand seem to be loving every minute. I can only assume from the crowing tone of your post that the icing on the cake for you will be if we do go down, so you can come on here and brag about how you were SO right. Nothing like a little humility is there? Pathetic.

Boards of Canada - Music has the right to children. Fantastic album, with olsen / pete standing alone being my personal faves. Should be getting Geogaddi delivered from Amazon today or Monday, as well as Amber by Autechre.

iMesh by default (even though it is lousy with spyware and adware). WinMX is nowhere near as reliable as it once was due to being hugely oversubscribed, and Kazaa is even worse for spyware than iMesh. Not that I would ever download anything in breach of copyright laws. Not me. Oh no.

Don't knock Sharktigers, very dangerous, especially when cornered. Wasn't Megalodon one of the Transformers? Megalodon! Watch him change from a robot into a truck into a huge set of teeth about to eat two unwary Canadians.

I'm going against the grain and backing the swan. If it's single swan against a single goose, mano a mano (or swano a gooso) then your swan is clear favourite. Get a goose clear of the gaggle and the swan can make it's hight and reach advantage count, stay behind it's jab, etc. Tiger Vs Sharks Vs Tigersharks (and if possible Sharktigers) is what I want to see.

If you are after some more chilled stuff, one cd which rarely leaves my discman at the moment is Rounds by Four Tet (Pause is excellant too). It's been out a while but hasn't got anywhere near the recognition it deserves. Other than that, you can't go wrong with anything by Thievery Corperation.

Sitting and chilling is pretty much my limit these days, so listening to a lot more relaxed stuff than I used to. Pre-Emptive Strike is pretty good too, if only for all 4 parts of What does your soul look like.

DJ Shadow is pure class, "Number Song" and "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt" from Endtroducing / "Blood On The Motorway" and "You Can't Go Home Again" from The Private Press being personal faves. If you are into d & b you should check out Photek, the early stuff is very minimalist but Solaris is more expansive.

Sad that we are now reduced to hoping that we only prove to be the fourth worst team in the Premiership. Regarding Jordan's point about doing better than expected last season, I don't really see it as a valid excuse for what is going on at the moment. A lot of smaller clubs struggle after a successful season because they are strip mined of talent by their bigger competitors before the start of the next campaign. Other than losing Duff and flogging Pie Boy to Brum, that hasn't really happened to us, and money was made available to bring in replacements, so in theory we should be fielding a squad of similar standard to last year, rather than the pub team in disguise we send out most weeks. On paper we still have a good team, just a pity we can't play our matches on a large sheet of A4. The McBride saga just serves to illustrate how far we have sunk, and how quickly. From signing Emerton in the summer (then being talked about as one of the most desirable midfielders in Europe, remember those days?) to not signing a 31 year old MLS player (no disrespect intended) because, frankly, Fulham look a better prospect at the moment, is depressing to say the least. Rovers are beginning to look like a ship which, if not actually already sinking, is certainly listing heavily to one side (but not the left side, obviously). Right, where did I put that shotgun again?

Going to see Thea Gilmore in London next month. Bought Avalanche on the strength of the single "Mainstream" and loved it.

I imagine the equivalent thread on the Dingles message board (you know the one, it's nailed to that tree outside Turd Moor. If someone has nicked the chalk, just use a twig dipped in dog crap like the locals) would be "Stan Stan the Dingle man must go...up the road to Ewood to beg our more illustrious neighbours to lend us yet another player, on account of we broke the last one".

Wonder how many of those who were willing to give Souey until christmas to turn things round would now vote to show him the door?

Suppose it all boils down to how we define the terms "elitism" and "populism" Drummer Boy. If the list of books on The Big Read was 100% based on votes by the general public, then I would define it as more populist than elitist. If the shortlist was chosen by committee then it leaves itself open to accusations of elitism of a sort, if only in the latter stages. Personally I thought the series was a great idea. If it persuaded even one person to turn off Pop Idol and pick up a book, any book (even Harry Potter), and as Sidders points out, increased library figures would suggest that it did, then it can only have been a good thing in my opinion.

My own thoughts on why Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, etc. are so successful is a little different Drummer Boy. Rather than some secret new front the damned middle classes have opened up against the working man in an ongoing class war, as you seem to be suggesting (if I have mis-understood I apologise, it is late) I think it has more to do with the dumbing down of modern society (for which the BBC, amongst others, has a great deal to answer). Having read one of the Harry Potter books (albeit in the secrecy of my own home) in order to further ingratiate myself with a good looking woman I know that likes them, I now can't think of anything more pathetic than the sight of a grown adult reading one of the damn things in public!. These people may as well hang a sign around their necks saying "I have the mental age and emotional maturity of a 12 year old", because that is what they are telling the world as they sit on the train proudly reading "Harry and the Hobnob of Fire" or whatever. LOTR is a slightly different story (no pun intended) because despite being essentially a children's story, and a damn good one at that, it is at least couched in adult language (although I will take the chronicles of Elric of Melnibone thanks, the true pinnacle of fantasy literature). One other thing I would say is that you have pre-supposed in your arguement that people only ever read certain sorts of books, or that some types are inately superior to others: I would disagree. Right now I am reading "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester. It's generally considered to be one of the most influential science fiction novels of the 1950's, and it's a cracking read, but it's never going to start any revolutions, and nor would I expect it to. That doesn't mean that it is not without merit, but as with any novel those merits must be judged within the context of the genre it inhabits.

The beeb watching public an elitist minority? Why? On account of the fact that it's all bloody Chekhov (no, not that one) and Dostoyevsky on BBC1 these days? This is the channel that inflicts Eastenders on us FFS! Who else do you think is going to vote for a programme about literature broadcast on the BBC? The non-BBC viewing public perhaps?

Don't think that the middle class intelligencia at the BBC would have chosen Harry Potter, LOTR, His Dark Materials or Hitchhiker's Guide as four of the top five books in the history of the English language Drummer Boy. If the list seemed predictable (and did anyone really doubt that Lord of the Rings would win?) it was because of the fact that it was down to a popular vote.

Bloody hell, what a game! When the Aussies pulled it back to all square in the second half I really thought they would go on and win it, but thankfully we held on. Thought it was fitting that in a game where the Australians had largely kept him in check, a certain fly-half whose name escapes me should score the winning drop goal with the last kick of the match. Right, I'm off down the pub for several stiff drinks and some football match or other.

Cheers MancRover, sounds like it's going on my christmas list too! Always thought the singles collection was a bit of a rushed job, they couldn't even get the track listings in the sleeve notes to correspond with the actual running order on the CD, so this one sounds like a major improvement. Didn't know the Stuffies had even reformed Rosie, is the new album all new material? All we need now is for Ned's Atomic Dustbin to announce a comeback tour and I'm 17 all over again.

How is the Inspirals greatest hits different to the singles collection which came out about 5 years ago? "I Want You" is still the last song I play before I go out on the lash, always puts me in the mood. "She Comes in the Fall" and "Two Worlds Collide" also big faves chez Morph. Was lucky enough to see the last ever gig by the Stuffies before they split in '98 (?). Was at the Phoenix Festival, last song they did was "Dizzy" and Vic Reeves ran out to join them; top stuff (no pun intended). Was wondering if anyone had heard the last Thea Gilmore album (think it's called Avalanche). Really like the single "Mainstream" (?), is the album worth buying?

Rover6, do you not think that, given all he has achieved for the club, Souness has at the very least earned the right to try and dig Rovers out of the hole we are currently in? This is not a question of sentimentality speaking, but respect. Since taking over Souness has led us to promotion, cup glory and European football (however briefly) two seasons running. To sack him for a poor start to the season would be a monumental injustice in my book. If we are still mired in the bottom three at christmas then there may be a better case for a change of manager (who would then still have enough games to put things right, considering the quality at their disposal) but to be arguing for one at the start of November is premature in the extreme.

Would have to disagree with you on this one Radaghast. I think the fact that The Darkness look to ape the attire of Classic Rock Bands from the 70's and 80's (which, let us remember, are widely acknowledged as the decades which taste forgot) only serves to underline the ironic conceit which underpins the band. The idea of the rock band as post-modern statement does indeed have it's echoes in This Is Spinal Tap (it's just that Spinal Tap was twenty years ahead of it's time), but judged by any serious criteria, I find The Darkness wanting in some regards. This is not to say that they are without merit, but (like two of my favourite acts in a different genre, Lemon Jelly and Wagon Christ) they shouldn't be taken too seriously. Only my opinion of course, and I would echo your sentiments with regard to pap idle and the like. As with all music (except country & western) if it puts a smile on your face, who am I to criticise?

Couldn't agree more Rosie, apparently it's all to do with irony. More than anyone else they remind me of Love Fist (fictional British 80's metal outfit in GTA Vice City). Just bought the new Four Tet album (deeply odd, but in a good way) and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by The Herbaliser, which is the business.

I'd suggest "Rust Never Sleeps" before you dismiss Neil Young. i'm not dismissing him... i just think weld is possibly his best album.. top artist, just some albums are too short for purchase imo... so the 2 disks of weld offers the best value or money perhaps. Both great albums but Harvest gets my vote every time. Admittedly Harvest is the more mainstream of the three, but the simple fact that it contains "The Needle and the Damage Done" is enough for me.