http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/wolverhampton-wanderers/9938839/Wolverhampton-Wanderers-keeper-Carl-Ikeme-may-miss-rest-of-season-after-breaking-hand-in-dressing-room-row.htmlWolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Carl Ikeme could miss the rest of the season after breaking his hand during a dressing-room confrontation with manager Dean Saunders.
Ikeme is understood to have had a heated bust-up with Saunders and punched the wall in a rage, following the calamitous own goal in Wolves' basement battle against Bristol City on Saturday.
David Davis’s back-pass embarrassed Ikeme by going through his legs to gift City a first-half lead in their crucial Championship encounter, resulting in a full-scale dressing room inquest at half-time.
Ikeme was furious with himself for being at the centre of the incident in such a vital game and took exception to Saunders’s criticism and slammed his fist into a wall, injuring himself and forcing Wolves into a substitution, with Dorus de Vries appearing for the second period.
Saunders claimed after Wolves’ 2-1 win that Ikeme had injured his hand during the game in the first half but the damage was self-inflicted at the interval. Ikeme, 26, had an x-ray at the weekend and Wolves fear he has fractured a bone. He is expected to be sidelined for at least a month and may not play again this season.
As a result of his injury, Saunders has been forced into recalling Ireland under-21 international Aaron McCarey from his loan spell at Walsall to strengthen his goalkeeping options.
It is the latest episode in a turbulent season for Wolves, who are still in grave danger of a second successive relegation.
Wolves declined to comment on the row yesterday but Saunders is facing the local press today and will find himself facing questions about another unwanted off-field incident.
After the game on Saturday he had said: “I had a go at all of them [at half-time]. But what goes on in the dressing room stays there — I don’t tell people what I say to the players at half-time apart from saying I had a go at them. Carl hurt his hand on the pitch and that made my mind up.
“It was forced on me because his hand wasn’t perfect and he may need an x-ray. But it was a calamity goal to concede. The two of them should have done better.”
Wolves’ victory against relegation rivals City was only Saunders’s second win since replacing Stale Solbakken in January and the club remain second bottom in the Championship. Saunders’s team return to action on March 30 with a home game against Middlesbrough.
