Levi Lumeka what's your opinion?

Played abroad until signing for Oxford City in 2023.

Came on loan from Palace like he was “the great I am”. Attitude was utter rubbish and got binned off and sent back pretty sharpish after one or two appearances by Justin Edinburgh.

I dimly remember Levi Lumeka   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Lumeka

Found an interview by a publication that doesn't seem to be familiar with editing here. It's from 2020 when things were looking a bit brighter for the lad. Claims he was on the cusp of the Palace first team and was aiming for a league 1 loan before being packed off to Orient. Seems to think Justin just needed an extra body in during an injury crisis.

So you don't need to read the whole thing to find it (it really is unnecessarily long):

You would expect one of the best players for a Premier League U23 side to be going on loan at a higher level than that. Was it challenging for you personally to go from making your Premier League debut, to then be playing in the fifth tier, within a year?

When I didn’t go on (pre-season) tour with the first team at Palace, that was frustrating for me. I had made two first team appearances, scored 14 goals (for the U23s), and they only brought two (U23) players on tour! So for me, it was like, “how can you only bring two players on tour? We just one the title last year! You should at least bring a few youngsters on tour!” And with me being one of the top goal scorers every season, for me that was a bit shocking, in terms of like, “what’s really going on there?”

Some of the players, obviously we talk amongst ourselves, and we do say, “we just won a title, more of us should have gone on tour,” but that wasn’t the case. So that was quite frustrating for me, and I told my agent at that time, “look, just find me a loan move.” I had every reason to think that I could go to League One after the year that I’d had. I would say that the Championship was maybe a bit too soon, but I knew League One minimum was a league where I could play. In January, Shrewsbury had come to look at me for a bit, and they were in League One at that time. For me, going to League One in January would have been good for me, but it didn’t happen.

But the whole summer transfer period was quite frustrating. I wanted to go on loan as soon as possible, but that wasn’t really the case. Then, on one of the final days, Mark Bright (academy coach) came up to me and said, “look, my good friend Justin Edinburgh (may he so rest in peace), he needs some players,” or something along those lines. And Mark Bright knew him, and said, “let’s go to Leyton and meet him.”

For me personally, out of everything, that was probably the poorest part [of my career]. Me going into non-league, first of all, at that time… I wouldn’t have said that would have benefitted my career. I was 19 at that time, and you want me to be going to a team in the national league? Yeah, fair enough, they started well… I think they were top of the table at that time.

But the whole point is, for a young player… I already had all of the physical attributes; I already work hard off the ball. So maybe you should bring me to a level where I can learn the other side, or the technical side. So for me personally, I wasn’t really happy about it, but I still wanted to go on loan and experience more first team football. Last season, experiencing two games… I wanted more.

When I went to the meeting, he [Edinburgh] was like, “yeah, you’ll be in the 16,” and all of that. But I realised after, that he just needed me because one of his players had a red card, so was out for a couple of games, and another winger was out injured for a while, and he had a youngster, an 18 year-old, on the bench. So I think he literally just wanted more power, more experience or quality on the pitch, just in case.

And me going there, even for the first game against Chesterfield, I was on the bench, which is normal. But I wasn’t even one of the first subs to come on! He was bringing on other players, other attackers. And not being arrogant, not to be like, “oh, I’m coming from Crystal Palace, I have to play,” but it was like, “okay, that’s a bit shocking.” Me going to the National League, I wasn’t going there to be on the bench.

So I understood for the first game. But for the second, I only came on for like 5 or 10 minutes. So after a while, training, and with me getting frustrated and wondering “what’s going on, why aren’t I even in the squad?” And when that player came back from his suspension, he went straight to the bench, and I went out… and literally this was within two weeks. So at that time, I was like “wait a minute, I’m not even on the bench!” And obviously when you go to a new team, you’re going to give 100%, and I was giving 100%. I was training, showing my quality. And at that time, the loan deal was for free, and even the manager was like, “wow, how did we get this guy for free?”… I think I must have done a good finish or something, and I was training well, so I guess they were trying to say, “we’ve got him for free, but clearly, he’s not for free,” in terms of the way I was actually playing, and the quality I had.

So at that time, I was a bit frustrated. But mentally, I didn’t let it get to me; mentally, I was kind of strong. So I said, “let me just go again the next day, work hard, I can show my quality,” which I was doing on a regular basis. One time, the players were like, “wow, he was one of the best at training today, he was brilliant.” I was pressing… I was doing everything. And when they were saying that, I was thinking, “okay, let me carry on again the next day, and carry on again…” But when it came to the weekend, I wasn’t in the squad. Then I remember, one of the players was injured, so I was thinking, “okay, I have a chance.”

And I think that same week, we were playing against Barnet in a friendly, and I scored two goals… and it wasn’t tap-ins, it was a 25-yard left-foot screamer! And the other was with my left-foot as well. And now I was thinking, “okay, if I’m not in the squad this time, there’s definitely something going on.” So the weekend comes, and I’m not on the bench… and the players who got on the bench, they’d played in the friendly as well! So for me, I was like, “that makes no sense at all! How can I score two goals, and the players that made the bench, they didn’t even affect the game… and I’m here scoring two goals but not getting picked!”

So, at the end of the day, he obviously just needed me at that time, because of the red card and the injury. As soon as the players came back, he didn’t really care what I’d done in training. He had his team, and that was how it was going to be.

At the end of the day, managers have their players. But if I’m performing at a level where I’m showing you what I can do, and I’m doing better than some of the players who are starting, and not even making the bench, what more can you do. But towards the end, around November or December, I was at ease, I would say. Because I realised that it wasn’t me, it wasn’t what I was doing on the pitch, it was just that the manager had his players, his favourites.

Listen, some of them were friends off the pitch, because in non-league that’s how it is. You wouldn’t see that at a higher level, the manager being with you and your wife going out somewhere. There’s a possibility, but I highly doubt it! But that’s how it is in non-league.

Everyone is friends, everyone talks, it’s not really like coaches and players, but more like friends. So that’s how it was, and that’s how I realised how it was around there. It was frustrating, but towards the end, I was at ease, as it was more a case of the manager having his players.

I had wanted to go back early [to Palace], after October, but it wasn’t possible. I talked to the academy director… But to be fair, if I wasn’t in the squad with Leyton, I was going back anyway to play with the U23s. And I still ended up joint-top goal scorer that season!

So I think that period helped me mentally. It made me realise that you can never really doubt yourself, and I started feeling more confident in myself. Because when the manager doesn’t pick you, you can reflect and think “am I doing something wrong?” But at that time I realised that I wasn’t, and was like “okay, I can really do this, because it’s not really me. It’s the managers choice of players, and how it is, and people are more friends than colleagues.” I think I travelled once more with the first team, and went back for what was my final time at Palace.