West Ham keeper Robert Green has pledged his support to the Premier League Reading Stars project by revealing his favourite read is Homer's 'The Iliad'.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing Rob pledge his support to a Championship side - just goes to show how we call all mis-read things sometimes! - I was heartened to see our goalkeeper erring on the side of something as bold, weighty and, frankly, as old as Homer's great work.

Green said: "Reading is such a big part of all our lives, everyone should try to make a bit of time each day to read more. You should never be scared of a book either, reading classics like The Iliad might seem daunting, but if you take your time, they are realliy interesting and you gain such a lot from trying them."

At the risk of sounding patronising (he says patronisingly); Good on 'yer Robert!

The Reading Stars initiative is designed to inspire families to pick up a book and, while I would normally salute anything that encourages people to read, I have to say that many of the selections from our football stars leave a lot to be desired. Even allowing for my naturally based Hammer's bias, I've got to say Robert wins the contest for best book hands down, although I will give a nod to Hull City's Boaz Myhill for selecting Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' and admit there are one or two I will have to investigate before I can give a fully informed opinion.

Nevertheless, there are far too many sports books and biographies on show and, while you shouldn't just dismiss biographies - auto or otherwise - out of hand there are an alarming number of books that can be thumbed through on the beach. Not that there's anything wrong with a bit of light reading of course, but, as an initiative, this seems too good an opportunity to miss. It's also worth mentioning that each club was asked a nominate a player to put a book forward so, by that token, you have to wonder at Mark Schwarzer recommending his own weighty tome. If I'd been asked I think I might have put forward 'Catch 22' before 'Nightmare on Green Street' ('Nightmare' still available - email me for a copy only £5 inc P&P!).

Still, things could have been worse; Chelsea nominated Henrique Hilario who recommended 'Black and Blue' by Paul Canoville, the story of the former Chelsea player whose life descended into a nightmarish hell of drugs and abuse after his playing career finished. A compelling and powerful book worth reading and, even if there is a feeling of nepotism in the selection, at least they didn't ask Joe Cole to select the title or we would all be thumbing Amazon for 'Janet and John go Clubbing in Romford'.

Wayne Rooney - bless his little potato head - is recommending Harry Potter and, much as I admire Rowling and her book's, I had rather hoped for something more mature. On the other hand, our Wayne may have been seen as the person to whom our youngster's are more likely to turn for reading inspiration so I suppose it was too much to ask him to suggest James Joyce. I have to admit though there's a real impish side of me that would have loved to have seen the reply, when the England striker was asked to contribute; "Yea, sure, how about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 'The Gulag Archipelago? - of course, it has to be in the original Russian as it loses sooooo much in translation at the end of the day. Don't ya think like?"

Still, as someone who used to be viewed with suspicion when seen reading Doestevesky on awayday coaches to Birmingham and all points north during the '70's, I suppose we have to start somewhere.

I wonder though how many people reading about this project were puzzled as to why Homer Simpson had written a poem about the final years of the Trojan War?