Kyle Michael Dempsey (born 17 September 1995) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Early life

Dempsey was born in

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

, Cumbria. His father Michael Dempsey played

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

professionally for

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

and he nearly followed his father into the sport, having played for youth sides at

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

before electing to pursue a career in professional football.

Career

Dempsey made his first-team debut for

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

on 28 January 2014 in a 3–0 win over Milton Keynes Dons. Dempsey scored 11 goals on top of 10 assists in his first professional season. He was named as Carlisle's Player of the Year for the 2014–15 season. He signed for Championship club Huddersfield Town on 10 July 2015 for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract. He made his debut as an 83rd-minute substitute in a 2–0 defeat against Hull City at the KC Stadium on 8 August 2015. His first league start came in their 2–2 draw against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

at the Madejski Stadium on 3 November 2015. His first goal for the club came in a 4–2 defeat against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

on 19 December 2015. On 29 August 2016, with his chances limited at Huddersfield, Dempsey joined League One club

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

on a season-long

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

. He signed for the club permanently on a three-year contract on 19 May 2017. Dempsey joined Fleetwood's League One rivals Peterborough United on 7 January 2019 on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season. On 17 August 2020, Dempsey joined League One club Gillingham and was made captain for the 2020-21 season. He was named team captain the following month. Dempsey attracted interest and an offer in the January 2021

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, but Gillingham turned the offer down and Dempsey remained at the club. Dempsey joined

on 31 January 2022 for a fee around £150,000. On 2 April 2023, he started in the 2023 EFL Trophy Final, scoring the opening goal against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

; Bolton won 4–0. On 27 June 2023, he signed a two-year extension at Bolton, keeping him at the club until 2026.

Style of play

Dempsey has been utilised as a " deeper-lying number eight to a number 10 behind the front two", describing himself as a "goal-scoring midfielder" who "likes to receive the ball around the halfway line and drive with the ball and bring everyone else into play".

Personal life

On 1 March 2023 at

Carlisle Crown Court The Carlisle Courts of Justice is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, and a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in Earl Street, Carlisle, England. History Until the early 1990s, all criminal court hearings in Car ...

, Dempsey admitted an assault on a Maryport doorman on 16 July 2022 and, along with his father, was granted unconditional bail ahead of sentencing on 11 April 2023. He was given a 12 month

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

, which was suspended for 18 months, alongside 200 hours of unpaid voluntary work and was forced to pay £1750 in damages. He was also given a curfew of 9pm–7am and would be required to wear an

electronic tag Electronic tagging is a form of surveillance that uses an electronic device affixed to a person. In some jurisdictions, an electronic tag fitted above the ankle is used for people as part of their bail or probation conditions. It is also used i ...

, though was given permission to break said curfew when it came to his professional football career.

Career statistics

Honours

Bolton Wanderers *

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2014–15 *

Young Player of the Year: 2016–17 * Gillingham Player of the Year:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Kyle 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Whitehaven Footballers from Cumbria English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Carlisle United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players