IN one sense, nothing has changed. England will be led into the World Cup finals by a manager who has been fatally undermined by his various mistakes, misdemeanours and mistresses and, once the tournament is over, he will be sent on his way.

That was always going to be the case on Monday morning when Sven Goran Eriksson arrived at Soho Square to begin negotiating a severance agreement, and it was still the case on Monday night when a Football Association statement confirmed the details of his departure.

But, in another more crucial sense, everything is different. Despite repeatedly seeing their reputation tarnished and their authority undermined, it was not the FA that pushed Eriksson over the edge.

Instead, it was a cabal of Premiership chairmen who decided enough was enough. The balance of power within the English game will never be the same again.

While it may currently seem as if English football is ripping itself apart, this week's events should have no significant impact on the national side's chances of lifting the World Cup this summer.

Few genuinely believed that Eriksson would still be in his post when qualifying for 2008's European Championships begins in September and, even among those who did, there was a general acceptance that his fate would be sealed if England did not improve on their quarter-final appearance in Japan and Korea.

With that in mind, it is difficult to see how his relationship with his players has been altered by this week's events. The World Cup is an end in itself and, while the current England side continue to enjoy a close bond with their embattled manager, they are not going to Germany to win it for him.

To suggest that the likes of David Beckham or Michael Owen will be less motivated to succeed because their manager is halfway through the departure door is to seriously under-estimate the professionalism and desire of England's leading players.

Similarly, Eriksson is sensible enough to realise that this summer's tournament is effectively his CV. If England crash out at the group stage, Europe's leading clubs are unlikely to be beating a path to his door.

History, too, suggests that England can overcome their current problems. In 1990, Bobby Robson was declared a "traitor" for revealing he would be leaving the national side to take charge of PSV Eindhoven in the wake of the World Cup. Six years later, Terry Venables started the European Championships knowing he would be moving aside once the tournament had finished. On each occasion, England came within a penalty kick of reaching their first major final since 1966.

In many ways, knowing what happens next is better than having your manager's fate in your hands.

Yet while the future of the England team has not been radically altered by Monday's announcement, the future of English football has.

In the past, the Football Association has always been the most powerful body in the game. From now on, it is the Premier League that holds the upper hand.

Leading FA figures have been furious at Eriksson for a while now. Sexual dalliances with Ulrika Jonsson and Faria Alam, clandestine meetings with Roman Abramovich and assorted indiscretions with the 'Fake Sheikh' have combined to make his position all but untenable.

Somehow, though, he had managed to hold on to his job until Sunday's News of the World published comments made by Eriksson in which he claimed three of England's top-flight clubs had been involved in corrupt dealings.

Suddenly, all bets were off. Clearly, while it is acceptable to criticise and embarrass the likes of Beckham, Owen and Shaun Wright-Phillips, it is entirely unacceptable to question the business practice of some of English football's richest and most powerful men.

As soon as the Premier League's three most senior figures - chairman Dave Richards, chief executive Richard Scudamore and secretary Mike Foster - had been in touch with a number of club chairmen, the campaign to oust Eriksson was past the point of no return.

It is a sad day for English football when Premier League chiefs are able to secure the removal of the England boss just because he has the audacity to question their own propriety.

Despite yesterday's announcement of a far-reaching investigation into allegations of financial malpractice, that day has come.