Zim striker dropped from Charlton Athletic for liking Instagram post of opponents’ team that beat them 6-0
ENGLAND-BORN Zimbabwean striker Macauley Bonne has been hogging the spotlight for the wrong reasons after being dropped from the Charlton Athletic squad for Tuesday’s League One game against MK Dons after he liked an Instagram post of his former team Ipswich Town.
The forward was left at home for the match at Stadium MK after his Instagram account was spotted liking celebratory Ipswich Town posts following their 6-0 thumping of Charlton over the weekend.
Bonne spent most of last season at his childhood club Ipswich Town on a loan deal from his former club Queens Park Rangers before recently returning for a second spell at Charlton Athletic.
Charlton Athletic manager Dean Holden revealed that he decided to drop Bonne due to the social media gaffe which led to outrage from the fans.
“Macauley didn’t mean any intention to disrespect our supporters. Social media can do this to people sometimes. I can totally understand the frustration from supporters and the way that came across. I had that conversation with Macca,” Holden said.
“I’ve talked from day one about building that connection with our fans and that was the last thing we wanted to do is make it look like we’re sticking two fingers up to them. That wasn’t the intention, I have to say that. I made the decision tonight. I wanted to get the game, hopefully, get a win and now we move forward.
“For me, now it’s done. He’s missed out on the squad. He’s accepted it. He’ll be back in training and for me it’s put to bed. I didn’t want it to fester. He’s had his punishment and we’ll move forward.
“We should draw a line. You can blow things out of proportion. The key thing tonight was to focus on the players we brought with us tonight. In the end, we’ve gone over to our fans, and we’ve had a good moment with them. I like to think now that we draw a line under it.”
Bonne joined Charlton in January this year after his contract with QPR was terminated.
He has made sixteen appearances for the League One club, scoring just two goals.
The 27-year-old forward, who was born in Ipswich to Zimbabwean parents has represented Zimbabwe at full international and under-23 levels.
