{"id":166763,"date":"2025-06-08T04:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T04:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166763\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T04:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T04:59:12","slug":"downfall-of-magician-birmingham-footballer-who-dreamed-of-premier-league-now-spending-20s-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166763\/","title":{"rendered":"Downfall of ‘magician’ Birmingham footballer who dreamed of Premier League now spending 20s in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kye Lemathy, aged 21, from Perry Barr had once played for Walsall FC’s academy\"KyeKye Lemathy<\/p>\n

Kye Lemathy was once described as a ‘magician’ of a footballer with Premier League clubs interested in him.<\/p>\n

But the teenage prodigy spiralled into cannabis use and crime after being released by Walsall FC’s academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now he is facing spending most of his 20s in jail for shooting at two people on a Birmingham<\/a> street after being stabbed by one of them.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Seven men on trial accused of robbing DPD drivers at knifepoint using company ‘insider’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Life has been troubled from day one for Lemathy who was born addicted to heroin and had to been weaned off on methadone in his first week, Birmingham Crown Court<\/a> was told.<\/p>\n

He was brought up by his grandmother and grew up ‘angry’ at the world, including his drug addict parents.<\/p>\n

Yet there was hope for his future due to his footballing abilities which saw him picked up by Walsall FC’s academy.<\/p>\n

\"KyeKye Lemathy(Image: West Midlands Police)<\/p>\n

His barrister said it was being let go by the Black Country club that saw him spiral into cannabis use.<\/p>\n

Lemathy was ultimately excluded from school and committed three robberies as a youth.<\/p>\n

But in 2021 things seemed to be on the up for him.<\/p>\n

Lemathy found himself playing for Kingstanding-based Red Lions United in the amateur Birmingham & District Football League.<\/p>\n

In a club blog post he stated the team had ‘helped me get back the love for playing football’ as he spoke of his hopes of being picked up by a Premier League outfit.<\/p>\n

The club chairman also spoke glowlingly of the then 17-year-old describing him as a ‘magician’ in centre midfield who was regularly fouled by opposition players for being too good for them.<\/p>\n

“He is a future super star and should be playing academy football,” he said.<\/p>\n

But instead Lemathy became further drawn into crime, earning a conviction for supplying cannabis in 2023.<\/p>\n

And then on October 12 last year he embroiled himself in a street row which would wreck his football aspirations once and for all.<\/p>\n

Around 7.30pm he left his home at Holte Road, Perry Barr<\/a> on his e-bike but within a few minutes found himself arguing with two unidentified males, also on bikes, at a bus stop in Aston Lane.<\/p>\n

Lemathy returned home but set out again very quickly. He had retrieved his revolver gun.<\/p>\n

Immediately he went back to find the two males and aimed his gun at them.<\/p>\n

CCTV captured the three of them go back and forth in the area for the next few minutes, as fireworks could be seen blasting off in the background.<\/p>\n

Eventually they ended up near the Gulf petrol station on Witton Road.<\/p>\n

One of the males shoved Lemathy off his bike to the ground and stabbed him in the back.<\/p>\n

In retaliation Lemathy aimed his revolver at him and fired at least twice.<\/p>\n

He tried to discharge further shots but the gun appeared to jam, while his target danced around a white Mercedes to avoid being in his line of sight. He had not been hit.<\/p>\n

Lemathy tried to retrieve his bike but was forced back and ultimately abandoned it in the road and ran off.<\/p>\n

He went to a hospital shortly afterwards. The stab wound had punctured one of his lungs.<\/p>\n

Lemathy was discharged after a few days but still has breathing problems which are being investigated, his barrister confirmed.<\/p>\n

Police originally charged him with attempted murder, which could have seen him staring at a life sentence.<\/p>\n

But prosecutors ultimately accepted his plea to an alternative charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.<\/p>\n

Judge Melbourne Inman KC, the Recorder of Birmingham, concluded he was a ‘dangerous offender’.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, June 3, he sentenced the now 21-year-old to nine years and nine months with an extended three-year licence.<\/p>\n

Lemathy will be entitled to release when he has served two thirds – six years and six months – of the custodial element of his punishment. He’ll be in his late 20s.<\/p>\n

Judge Inman said: “Sadly this is another case of guns being fired in public here in our city.<\/p>\n

“Guns and gun crime are a scourge of this city and the sentences therefore, as has been frequently said, are intended to punish and deter people from being in public with prohibited weapons.”<\/p>\n

Lemathy is currently working in the prison servery and has completed courses in maths.<\/p>\n

For the first time in his life he hopes to obtain legitimate employment when he gets out of prison.<\/p>\n

Barrister Arron Payne, defending him, told the court Lemathy had a ‘deprived’ background and said: “He grew up angry at his parents and angry at life.<\/p>\n

“When he lost the promising chances of football with Walsall<\/a> Football Club, he spiralled into cannabis use aged 14. He ended up being excluded from school.<\/p>\n

“He has never demonstrated a willingness to come off cannabis or an interest in working.<\/p>\n

“In displays of unexpected and hopeful maturity that has all changed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kye Lemathy, aged 21, from Perry Barr had once played for Walsall FC’s academyKye Lemathy Kye Lemathy was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,10386,748,393,4884,15267,16,15,19400],"class_list":{"0":"post-166763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-crown-court","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-perry-barr","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-walsall-fc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114645982626313419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}