Listen to the full interview via the Off The Ball Football Show podcast.
Southampton have earned plenty of kudos for the way they have rapidly risen from the depths of League One to a relatively comfortable place in the Premier League this season.
With the much-championed academy, the highly-rated manager Mauricio Pochettino and the decisions made by chairman Nicola Cortese paying off, the Saints have drawn admiring looks.
But it seems as if the bubble is threatening to burst with the news that Cortese is tendering his resignation after clashing with the owner Katharina Liebherr.
Last year Pochettino indicated that he would follow Cortese out of the club if the Italian were to leave.
But where does this leave the club and can they continue on their trajectory without the man who brought Pochettino to the club?
To discuss the motives of the owners and Cortese, we spoke to The Guardian's Dominic Fifield.
"I guess the nature of a progressive club was that it would become an asset. When the Liebherr group bought Southampton it was brought out of administration for £14 million. Now it's probably worth in excess of £150 million at least with facilities they have down there," Fifield explained.
"Given the fact that the owner has changed in that time - Markus Liebherr died in 2010 - and the owner at the moment is his daughter Katharina who apparently has little interest in football, there was always the chance that at some stage she was going to decide to sell up. I think this is the root of this problem. It seems to be a dispute between Cortese and Liebherr about whether they will continue being the progressive club they have become or whether they sell and make a vast profit on their investment. Given that she has very little interest in football, that may well be the way she wants to go."
Fifield characterized former banker Cortese as a "ruthless" chairman - he sacked former manager Nigel Adkins - who many Premier League chairman refuse to deal with. But he added that everything Cortese has done has been for the betterment of Southampton, exemplified by the recruitment of Pochettino and astute transfer business.
Fifield cannot see the Argentine staying at St Mary's beyond the end of the season.
"I would've thought that Pochettino would see out the remainder of this season even if Cortese walked away this week. But there has been rumours going around already that there would be suitors coming in for him in the summer. With Cortese at the helm, those suitors would have been deflected and wouldn't have a chance of luring Pochettino away but the reality is his reputation has been enhanced by this period. He will move on and go to a bigger club than Southampton is. If Cortese leaves then he will definitely leave in the summer."
