Duncan Mackay: Digger

It would never happen to Sven, of course, what with him being an ice-cool Swede, but there would surely be worldwide chaos if other football associations took the same course of action as Australia have with their coach Frank Farina.

He has been ordered to attend anger-management counselling as part of his punishment for an altercation with a TV reporter after the Socceroos match with Iraq in March.

"If Frank needs anger- management counselling so does every coach in world football," said Blackburn's Brett Emerton, who has worked under Graeme Souness. "They all lose their heads at some stage.

"I'm surprised what has happened to Frank - the punishment is ridiculous. The only time I've seen Frank angry is when we're not performing too well as a team and we've deserved a bit of a blast."

Farina was reported to the police by a journalist, Andrew Orsatti, after a row in the tunnel of Sydney's Telstra Stadium and the incident led to him receiving a written warning from his employers.

"People lose their temper. They say things in the heat of the moment, during the game, after the game, it doesn't mat ter," said Farina. "I'm probably from the old school: these things should stay indoors. It was most probably a good verbal stoush, that's about it, and maybe it should have been left there."

It is probably safe to assume, though, that should he leave Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson will not be rushing to seek employment in Australian football.

Death doesn't stop the Blues

Birmingham fans can now demonstrate their support for the Blues even after their death. The club has joined forces with the Midlands Co-Operative Funeral Services so that fans can be buried in £100 blue and white coffins or have their ashes scattered at St Andrews. Other extras include memorial tombstones embossed with the club crest and boulders inscribed with the club logo to put in the back garden.

Henson fooled by his own label

Gavin Henson will meet up with Sir Clive Woodward next week when the Lions gather in the Vale of Glamorgan before their tour to New Zealand - and peculiarly fashion could be among their topics of conversation.

The Wales centre is said to be so fastidious about his appearance that he irons his socks for training sessions. Indeed, even though he was caught out a couple of times for Wales this season when opponents stopped him from scoring tries by clinging on to his trendily untucked jersey he refused all entreaties from the management to wear anything other than XL.

So the Welsh team came up with a plan. They changed the size but swapped labels so that Henson still thought he was wearing an extra large. The rest as they say is history. But will Woodward be as devious as his Welsh counterparts?

· Supporters Direct is about to gain a managing director in the shape of the former Premier League spin doctor Phil French, who starts on Thursday, but it could lose its influential chairman after last week's post-election reshuffle.

Andy Burnham, the MP for Leigh who has chaired the organisation since its inception, was promoted to the post of parliamentary secretary at the Home Office, a taxing brief that may curtail his other activities. Burnham, an Everton fan, has told French that he may have to step down, but a decision will have to wait until his other commitments become clear.

Burton down and still being kicked

Things are going from bad to worse for the Football Association's £60m national football centre at Burton-on-Trent.

Little more than a week after the FA board members suspended their decision on its future until the autumn, pressure against the project is being brought to bear from Premiership clubs. With the FA's finances already at the mercy of the £757m Wembley national stadium development, strong objections are being raised against another large capital project.

"Who's it for?" asked a senior Premiership source. "It seems strange to call it a centre of excellence. Is it going to have a better academy than Arsenal or Southampton? Better coaches than Jose Mourinho? The Premiership already has the best of what this is trying to achieve."

The location, in the middle of green-belt land in the Staffordshire countryside, has already added to the cost of the project as designs had to be sympathetic to the surroundings for the FA's planning application to be passed. About £20m has been spent on the development already, though the resale value has been optimistically set at £4.75m.

"Is it the best use of resources?" the source asked.