Rare Football Post

So, can't say I'm disappointed that Birmingham City are relegated; being a Villa fan it's not bitterness, more a sense that I've never quite seen what Birmingham City were about - half owned by a porn baron, never done anything etc etc - and the real rivalry returns with West Brom back in the top league; all we need now is Wolves. Missed the "South Bank Show" on football fiction because it clashed with the end of season match of the day - apparently, half David Peace and his excellent "The Damned United" - half "why aren't there (m)any good football novels?" I've got a good football novel in me, same as I've got a good music novel - but doubt they're really the calling card for a new novelist, more's the shame. I see that the Booker of Bookers list has been announced - all very colonial - and I've written before that you'd get a better list from the shortlist than the winner. Yet again, Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" is there, I've still got a copy unread, and I really should one day; yet the only Rushdie I ever read - "The ground beneath her feet" - was not just a very poor novel, but awfully written, and seriously in need of decent editing, that I've bene put off ever since. Sure, shouldn't judge a writer by his lows; but without any real interest in Rushdie's subject, it may remain bottom of my pile for a while yet. Can I add, that I'm disappointed, though not surprised, that Coetzee is in there for "Disgrace" rather than "The Life and Times of Michael K." Both books are good, but I feel the earlier novel is remarkable.