Indeed after the final whistle there were hundreds of fans demonstrating in Edmiston Drive, calling for the resignation of Chairman David Murray - scenes that were a mirror image of one year ago.
This result, the first time in the club's history that they have been suffered a home Cup elimination at the hands of a club from outwith the top division, must rank as amongst the worst of all time - and as bad as the result was the undeniable fact is that the home club's performance was truly woeful against opponents who fully deserved their win and indeed who at times ran Rangers ragged in the second-half.
In the aftermath of this shameful defeat, many have described the current Rangers' team as the worst they have ever seen, even poorer than the dark days of the John Greig Era. Quite frankly, it is an opinion with which it is becoming impossible to put forward any kind of cohesive argument.
The kick-off was delayed fully fifteen minutes due to traffic congestion, with a healthy travelling support from Perth.
Shamefully, a one-minute round of applause was held before kick-off for former Ibrox Captain Bobby Shearer, instead of the traditional dignified one-minute silence, thus pandering to the bigots and morons who support certain other clubs. There can be no doubt that this set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Paul le Guen made three changes from Tannadice with Gavin Rae (captaining the side), Kris Boyd and Filip Sebo replacing Barry Ferguson, Charlie Adam and Dado Prso.
The game had a low-key start, with fully 23 minutes passing before either goal was threatened - Prso and Sebo being inches away from connecting with a low driven cross from Nacho Novo.
Two minutes later, in a foretaste of what was to come, Jason Scotland and Steven Milne cut a swathe through the middle of the Ibrox defence only for a timely tackle from Steven Smith to clear the danger.
Novo looked lively on the right - and he tested Bryn Halliwell in 37 minutes with a fierce twenty-yard left-foot drive after cutting in from the wing.
A dire first-half ended goalless, but the second would turn desperate for Le Guen and his players.
Jeremy Clement almost presented St. Johnstone with the opener five minutes after the restart when his misplaced pass enabled Simon Mensing to release
Scotland through on goal only for Allan McGregor to block his effort.
The resultant corner provided the opener however - Paul Sheerin's corner finding the head of Allan McManus who nodded down for Milne to net with an
overhead kick.
Rangers were now right up against it - and three minutes later in desperation Le Guen introduced two substitutes with Dado Prso and Lee Martin replacing
Filip Sebo and Thomas Buffel.
Boyd almost snatched the equaliser in 58 minutes when his headflick from a Martin free-kick was inches wide, then two minutes later the winger's thirty-yard free-kick only just missed the target.
Prso fired over from Novo's lay-off in 61 minutes as Rangers piled on the pressure, then immediately thereafter we had the rare sight of linesman Chris Young being replaced by fourth official John Underhill, presumably due to injury.
Midway through the second-half the storm clouds gathered over Ibrox as Milne made it 2-0 from a Martin Hardie through-ball.
The jeers were now pouring down from all sides of the ground upon the head of Le Guen, who sat impassively in the dugout - not even making the effort to exhort his players to fight back.
This was now a Rangers team well and truly plumbing the depths - and when Charlie Adam replaced Gavin Rae Le Guen had clearly conceded that his original team selection was flawed, for few amongst the 31,074 crowd could believe the ommision of the youngster from the starting line-up.
Novo twice came close to reducing the deficit with twenty-yard shots from Prso lay-offs, the first being held by Halliwell, the second flashing inches wide.
It was Saints however who looked more likely to add to their score - indeed on the counter-attack they were tearing the Ibrox defence to shreds. One such occasion in 70 minutes saw Milne clean through only for his chip over McGregor to be scrambled clear, thus denying the player the notable feat of being the first opposition player to score an Ibrox hat-trick for ten years - since Alan Johnston of Hearts.
Rangers kept trying, and Adam's inswinger from a Novo pass in 77 minutes only just missed the target.
The game's most controversial moment arrived nine minutes later when Boyd's shot from a Martin cutback clearly crossed the line before being cleared - but unbelievably linesman Francis Andrews refused to signal a goal, and both Prso and Novo were yellow-carded for the ferocity of their protests.
Time had run out on Rangers, and perhaps for Le Guen as well as a crescendo of booing greeted the final whistle.
The Perth fans rightly celebrated their first Ibrox win in 35 years, and few would begrudge them their success.
Afterwards a crestfallen Le Guen reflected:
"I am very dissapointed. I apologise to our supporters for our poor performance. I am worried - this is a difficult period for the club. We have a problem of organisation. We must recognise that we have tried our best. I will try to carry on. I am the manager - I will try to cope with the situation. We must stay together, we must stick together.
"It's up to David Murray to decide my future."
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Papac, Hemdani, Smith; Novo, Clement, Rae (Adam 69), Buffel (Martin 54); Boyd, Sebo (Prso 54)
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Svensson
ST. JOHNSTONE Halliwell; Lawrie, Stanic; Mensing, McManus, Anderson; Lawson (Sheridan 89), Hardie, Milne (Jackson 90), Scotland (MacDonald 83), Sheerin
UNUSED SUBS Cuthbert, Dyer
REFEREE Stuart Dougal
Attendance 31,074