Charlton Athletic drop Macauley Bonne for liking Instagram post of former club

England-born Zimbabwean forward Macauley Bonne was reportedly dropped from Charlton Athletic’s squad for the league match against Mk Dons on Tuesday after liking an Instagram post of his former team Ipswich Town.

Bonne was left behind when Athletic traveled to play Mk Dons away earlier this week when his Instagram account liked a celebratory post shared by Town following their 6-0 thumping of his club, Charlton this past weekend.

The former Queens Park Rangers man spent most of last season on loan at Town who are his childhood club.

Charlton Athletic gaffer Dean Holden revealed before Tuesday’s game that he dropped Bonne due to the social media gaffe which angered the club’s 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. At 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.”

The 27-year-old striker joined Charlton in January following termination of his contract by Queens Park Rangers.