BARNSLEY striker Iain Hume faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a fractured skull and internal bleeding following a challenge by Sheffield United's Chris Morgan on Saturday.

Iain was forced to undergo emergency surgery over the weekend and is in the high dependency unit in hospital.

Reds manager Simon Davey said: "Our thoughts are with Iain at this time and we all wish him a very speedy recovery from what is a horrendous injury. There is no timescale regarding when he will be fit enough to return but he is in a stable condition.

"The decision not to show a red card was an absolute disgrace. Iain received no protection whatsoever from the referee on Saturday despite him telling Andy D'Urso about repeated use of the elbow and it sickens me just thinking about it. He could have died.

"Both Ryan (Kidd) and I and expressed our concerns at the treatment Iain had received through elbow challenges at half time but the referee made light of the situation and thought we were making too much of an issue that he had dealt with by showing a only yellow card.

"Iain is now in hospital with a fractured skull because of a challenge that seemingly warranted only a yellow card from Andy D'Urso.

"It beggars belief that you send a manager to the stand when a referees assistant makes a decision from 70 yards down the pitch; yet a challenge like this seen from 15 yards away, which ends with Iain suffering a fractured skull, goes virtually unpunished.

"I am fed up as a manager that referees always seem to take the side of a perceived 'bigger' club in our own stadium to the extent that we now have a player laying in a hospital bed with a fractured skull.

"In the last two home matches we have had four stonewall penalties turned down by referees, including a WWE style throw on Darren Moore last Saturday. It is beyond a joke and decisions like these cost people their jobs".

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