Raider Nation will have to keep dreaming of a Chucky return for Christmas. Photo: Jed Jacobsohn, Getty Images

As mentioned in my last post regarding the floating rumours that Jon Gruden was going to jump back into the Black Hole, the following is an article posted by Paul Gutierrez of CSN Bay Area regarding the matter.

The Raiders have responded, strongly refuting the rumors that they have been in contact with Jon Gruden about a potential return. Below is the email sent to members of the media from Raiders director of media relations Zak Gilbert:

Members of the media: There are two people on this planet that have the ability to make talks happen between Jon Gruden and the Raiders, with regard to him allegedly taking over the football operations, and/or the position of head coach. Each of those individuals, owner Mark Davis and general manager Reggie McKenzie, wanted me to communicate that this rumor has no validity whatsoever. And for the record, I’m personally disgusted that Hub Arkush would spread such an untruth on the day our head coach, Dennis Allen, had to determine with his mom, his brother and sister, whether to take his dad off life support or wait and hope that he would regain consciousness. Dennis didn’t have an opportunity to say goodbye to his dad, but he did have an opportunity to take a phone call regarding Hub’s story.

I completely agree with Gilbert in his statement. Allen, a first-year head coach doing his best with a team that is in shambles, shouldn’t have been bombarded with insulting and, frankly, unsupported rumours during his time of grief. It is understandable that Raiders fans loved and miss Jon Gruden being apart of the organization, and him lighting Al Davis’ memorial flame probably fueled this news in the process, but it wasn’t the time nor the place to disrupt the reigning head coach.