"THIS is the darkest day in Crystal Palace's history."
Even by the ridiculously overblown standards of modern-day football, this was a daft, bordering on mildly offensive, statement.
It was a view offered by a Sky Sports News HQ (stupid name) reporter on Wednesday night, as news of the alleged Malky Mackay and Iain Moody text messages began to cause shockwaves in the football world.
Palace fans on social media showed a little more restraint bordering on gallows humour - "Typical Palace" "soap opera" and "it's never dull following our club" were the most common threads.
Let's just step back from this for a second, take a deep breath and give some context to the situation.
Firstly, it's absolute nonsense to say this is a dark day for Palace. This is a club, lest we forget, that almost went out of business just four years ago, and on at least two occasions since the turn of the century was nearly relegated to the third tier of English football.
Almost, but not quite, employing Malky Mackay as manager hardly comes close to almost, but not quite, losing an entire football club.
Then, look at more recent history - namely around 10 months ago, when Steve Parish and his board were looking to replace Ian Holloway.
The search took a month but felt like an eternity. Names were linked, odds tumbled and the indecision felt final. The longer it dragged on, the more 'Palace in Crisis' headlines were written and the more fans complained their club was destined for certain relegation.
But Steve Parish kept a cool head, got his man and the rest, as they say, is history.
Yes the transfer deadline is looming and yes it's key that a new appointment is made soon.
But one game into the season isn't a time to panic. Keith Millen can provide a steady hand on the tiller and, whether the Malky Mackay allegations are true or false, Palace have dodged a huge bullet by not getting any more embroiled in the controversy by employing the Scotsman.
For now, we urge Eagles fans to remember the summer of 2010, learn lessons from the autumn of 2013 and keep calm.
And in the words of John Lennon (almost), let's give Keith a chance.
