Three defiant directors are axed in a flash SAINTS yesterday discarded 55 years of service in five minutes as Rupert Lowe wielded the axe on the so-called rebel directors.

As expected, an Extraordinary General Meeting confirmed the removal from the club's football board of long standing directors Ian Gordon, Keith Wiseman and Brian Hunt.

The first EGM in the club's history lasted just five minutes as a resolution for their removal was swiftly passed and Gordon and Hunt immediately left St Mary's. Fellow rebel Keith Wiseman did not attend the meeting, preferring instead to holiday in Falmouth.

Before the vote on their future was taken managing director Andrew Cowen is understood to have described it as a sad occasion.

The official reason give for their expulsion was differences over changes at the club's Marchwood training ground and the role of sports science. However, the move is widely seen as a punishment for selling some or all of their shares to Saint's biggest shareholder and Lowe opponent Michael Wilde.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo Gordon said: "It is a very sad day for me, my wife and my family, but I consider myself very fortunate to have been involved in the club for the past 18 years.

"Anyone who knows Keith Wiseman, Brian Hunt and myself will, I think, accept that we are genuine Saints supporters, and the decision we took was not taken lightly but in what we considered was in the best interest for the club.

"I can but hope that the situation is resolved as soon as possible, and not dragged out to the last possible date for an EGM, as any delay is seriously damaging to the club.

"The coming season is so vital, and everyone who has the best interests of the club at heart must en sure that George and his team have no distractions."

Wiseman and Hunt both remain on the club PLC board, however Gordon's 18-year tenure as a director of Southampton is now over.