Football FanCast columnist Matt Williams wonders if the modern day footballer is smarter than is otherwise believed.

What's the phrase that you think is least likely to be uttered from a footballer's mouth? "No thank you chairman, I don't think I justify being paid £100,000 per week?" "It's a lovely opportunity Rafa, but I couldn't live with myself if I just left the club who raised me to sit on your subs bench?" How about, "that wasn't a penalty ref, he barely touched me?"

One of the phrases bound to be up there, as seemingly unlikely to be said by a footballer as Osama Bin Laden is of telling George Bush "I'm sorry, let's be friends", has got to be "consonant please Carol". The idea of a footballer watching - let along appearing - on Countdown seems about as likely as Arsene Wenger buying someone over 30, but that's what happened last Monday, with Notts County midfielder Neil Mackenzie setting out to dispel the notion that footballers are stupid.

Mackenzie won his first round match, but it may take more than a Countdown conundrum to convince people that Steven Gerrard is a closet physicist, or that Wayne Rooney actually has an IQ of 150.

Of course it could be argued that footballers must be bright, simply because of the talent they possess in their feet. We often hear about ‘intelligent passes' and ‘fantastic vision', so surely there must be something going on up there? David Beckham, for instance, has always been seen as the butt of all jokes when it comes to intellect, but surely someone earning £50 million per year can't be that stupid?

If you're willing to look around the leagues, you'll find some fairly intelligent guys. Nedum Onuoha has 3 A's at A-Level. Matt Lawrence has a degree in American Literature. Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Amongst others, David James, Sol Campbell and Danny Murphy also all come across as pretty smart.

But the argument that Neil Mackenzie is an exception that proves the rule is just as compelling. Most footballers seem happy to embrace the fact that they were rubbish at school, and even lambast those for being clever. Graeme Le Saux, the former Chelsea full-back, was ridiculed and had his sexuality questioned purely because he read the Guardian, and today most players will rarely give an interview that isn't simply someone rolling off a bunch of clichés.

Add to the fact that Mark Draper once wanted to move to an Italian club "like Barcelona", that Ian Rush couldn't settle there because "it was like living in a foreign country", and that Paul Gascoigne had 14 bookings one season, "8 of which were (his) fault, but 7 of which were disputable", then you have to question whether any more players will be meeting Des O'Connor any time soon.

But what do you think? Who is the smartest footballer playing today? Are footballers smarter than we are lead to believe?

For the record, I think not, and for me the one player to answer that question is a certain Joey Barton. How someone with that amount of talent, who because of which can command extortionately high wages, can happily piss it all down the drain in the manner he did has made me lose all faith in footballer's mentalities in a way that will be difficult to restore.