The Football League have issued the following statement:
The Football League Board today considered the position of Southampton Football Club.
The League Board has instructed its legal advisors to commission an independent forensic accountancy report in order to clarify the legal and financial position of the club, as a matter of urgency.
The Board will reconvene once that report is available.
The statement appears to suggest that the 'legal' status of the club is in question, likely to be centered on whether the club is actually trading while insolvent. Should the club be deemed insolvent then the League has the ability to throw the club out of the competition, a move that would seriously affect promotion and relegation issues beneath the Championship.