Football is not a level playing field when the game is so governed by cash | Andrew Anthony

In the Premier League and beyond clubs have a set place in the pecking order and despite the odd Leicester-style success that is not likely to change

In politics it is said that when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. In sport when Manchester United fire a manager – which is rather often nowadays – the chain reaction is felt throughout football. And nowhere more, at present, than at Tottenham. The way the media reacted after José Mourinho was ousted from Old Trafford, it seemed it was already a done deal that Mauricio Pochettino would be United’s new manager next season. It was almost as if it was an embarrassing inconvenience that he had to play along with being Spurs manager for the next few months.

After all, if you’re a film director and you’re offered a Hollywood blockbuster with an unlimited budget, do you really want to continue labouring away on EastEnders? That was the kind of professional distance that was portrayed as existing between Manchester’s nobility and north-London’s perpetual also-rans. Never mind Spurs lead United in the Premier League and, by the reckoning of most observers, are the better team.

Related: Mauricio Pochettino: Champions League not cups keeps me in a job

Related: The borrowers: how loan deals took over the January transfer window | Stuart James