THE message from thousands of Saints fans was clear: “We want Rupert out!”

Patient for so long this season, many supporters finally snapped on Saturday.

Plenty of bad blood has been simmering under the surface and it came exploding out at the weekend.

The catalyst was the devastating 2-1 defeat to Doncaster, which left supporters seriously questioning Saints’ chances of Championship survival.

It was a day when the scenes at St Mary’s turned ugly, not to mention frighteningly similar to those immediately after Saints were relegated from the Premiership in 2005.

Some fans chose to berate head coach Jan Poortvliet, while others fought with fellow supporters, but the real target of their venom was undoubtedly one man – Rupert Lowe.

As Saints’ miserable fate was being sealed on the pitch, the crowd chose to turn its attention towards the directors’ box.

For what was, in truth, the first time this season, they firmly vented their anger at the PLC chairman and the board.

Chants of “we want Rupert out” reverberated around the ground. Groups of fans rose to their feet and encouraged others to “stand up if you want Lowe out” while cries of “sack the board” were also heard.

Clashed Stewards and supporters clashed and fans fought among themselves in the Northam End, while a handful of people got close to Poortvliet and started shouting at him.

As the final whistle blew, a chorus of boos shot round the stadium – one or two fans even ran on to the pitch before being tackled by stewards.

Outside, hundreds gathered to bellow out anti-Lowe chants up at the executive boxes, which quickly had their curtains drawn. Lowe himself was not at St Mary’s but that did little to diffuse the supporters’ anger.

Even the Daily Echo was told to leave the paved area outside the Itchen Stand by stewards, for being on “private property”

while speaking to fans about the game, as the afternoon turned into something of a farce.

It was amazing that the positive atmosphere going into the match, after last week’s win at Barnsley, could change so quickly and so markedly.

But in the early stages, it looked as if things might be so different.

The home support was given plenty of encouragement as their side s t a r t e d brightly.

The official attendance was 15,837 – about half of what it was for Manchester United two weeks ago – but there was still a decent atmosphere inside St Mary’s.

In fact, both teams had a string of good chances in the first half to buoy their fans.

As the half-time whistle blew, few could comprehend how the game was still 0-0.

But it would only take a matter of seconds – 12 to be exact – for that to change after the break. Martin Woods latched on to a deflected shot inside the box and fired Doncaster in front, stunning the Saints fans.

St Mary’s was discomfortingly quiet, except for the jubilant 818 Rovers followers that had made the long trip from Doncaster.

Any time a Saints attack broke down, or the home side lost the ball, the frustration from the crowd grew.

With about 20 minutes to go, they had clearly reached boiling point. The first chants of discontent began and they rarely ceased thereafter.

When James Coppinger danced through the Saints defence to make it 2-0 in the 82nd minute, it only served to intensify the mood that was overcoming the stadium – and send a fair proportion of the crowd heading for the exits.

The taunts of “that’s why you’re going down” from the Doncaster fans would have been ringing in their ears as they left.

Marek Saganowski’s injurytime goal at least provided something to cheer about, but even that couldn’t divert the crowd from taking out their frustration on the board for more than a few seconds.

Seeing their team record just one home league win in 14 attempts and firmly entrenched in the relegation zone is painful for supporters to swallow.

As a result, the outpouring of emotion was hardly surprising and it was certainly all eerily familiar.

The scenes at St Mary’s on Saturday were unpleasant and, in an ideal world, probably not what any fans would want.

But unless results start improving, it is difficult to imagine them not being repeated.

Whatever the case, Saturday was undoubtedly a sad day for anyone associated with Saints.