Linvoy Primus
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| Linvoy Primus | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Linvoy Stephen Primus | |
| Date of birth | 14 September 1973 | |
| Place of birth | Forest Gate, London, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | |
| Playing position | Centre back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Portsmouth | |
| Number | 2 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1992–1994 1994–1997 1997–2000 2000– |
Charlton Athletic Barnet Reading Portsmouth |
4 (0) 127 (7) 94 (1) 197 (5) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Linvoy Stephen Primus (born 14 September 1973 in Forest Gate, London) is an English football player, writer and Christian charity worker. He currently plays for Portsmouth F.C. and is primarily a central defender, though he also can play at right back.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] Early career
Primus began his career with Charlton Athletic, but joined Barnet on a free transfer for the 1994–95 season.
He carved out a reputation as an excellent defender during his time in north London, playing almost 150 games for the club before joining Reading for £250,000 for 1997–98. After establishing himself as an essential player for the Royals, he was signed on a Bosman ruling free transfer by Portsmouth manager Tony Pulis (although chairman Milan Mandaric later claimed that he insisted Pulis signed him after impressing during pre-season.[1]) for the 2000–01 season.
[edit] Portsmouth
His Portsmouth career did not get off to a good start, scoring an own goal on his debut away at Sheffield United. Unfortunately, injury ruled him out of action for six months in November of that season. He then struggled to get a game under new manager Graham Rix but the appointment of Harry Redknapp in March 2002 gave him a new lease of life.
Despite originally being told by Redknapp he was not of Division One standard, let alone suitable for the Premier League, Primus proved his manager wrong by seizing his chance when other signings missed out through injury and suspension. By the end of the 2002–03 season he had become a vital member of the side that won the First Division title, winning the Portsmouth fans' player of the season as well as the PFA accolade for Division One.[2] Primus credits his renaissance to his conversion to Christianity[3] after a friend of his wife's invited him to church. Contrary to folklore it actually had nothing to do with his friend and Pompey team mate Darren Moore.
Despite the previous season's heroics, Primus was not used regularly in the early part of Pompey's first Premiership season. Harry Redknapp had ditched his 3-5-2 formation in favour of the more conventional 4-4-2 and partnered new record signing Dejan Stefanovic with Arjan de Zeeuw. During December, Pompey were in a terrible run of form and Redknapp decided to bring one of his most reliable players back into his plans for the derby match with Southampton. In spite of a 3-0 loss, Primus retained his starting place for the remainder of the season and again impressed greatly.
The following season saw Primus remain a regular member of the Pompey team under first Redknapp and then both his successors, Velimir Zajec and Alain Perrin. He scored his first Premier League goal at Crystal Palace on Boxing Day 2004.[4]. He scored again on a Boxing Day in 2006, when grabbing two headed goals against West Ham United.
Although Primus was a regular member of Perrin's team at the end of the 2004–05 season and captained the side on occasions during pre-season, he rarely featured until Perrin's sacking in November. The return of Harry Redknapp, one of Primus' biggest admirers, to Portsmouth lead to Primus' immediate return to the side, and he was ever present in the side that achieved Premiership survival in the last 10 games of the season. Primus remained a regular in the Portsmouth defence for the 2006/07 season partnering England international Sol Campbell but failed to make an appearance in 2007/08 due to a career threatening knee injury. He is currently recovering from surgery performed by Dr. Richard Steadman who is known to have saved the careers of many Premiership footballers, including Alan Shearer. However, he still managed to earn a new one-year deal at Portsmouth in May 2008.
[edit] Personal life
Primus is involved with Christian Charity Faith & Football, and walked the Great Wall of China in summer 2005 for the charity.[5] He was also involved in supporting the Alpha Course, which are run all over the world, and are designed to explain Christian beliefs and promote discussion,[6] and appeared in a cinema advertisement for the movement.[7] In December 2006, he took part in a Football Focus feature on faith in the game.[8] In 2007, he released his autobiography, "Transformed ".[9]
[edit] References
- ^ English-football.org info on Primus
- ^ "PFA FANS' PLAYER OF THE YEAR", givemefootball.com, 2003-05-01. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Faith In Football", BBC News, 2004-09-01. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Palace 0-1 Portsmouth: Primus winner", ESPN Soccernet, 2004-12-26. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ China Challenge walking the Great Wall of China: article from BBC.co.uk website.
- ^ "China Challenge": article from BBC.co.uk website.
- ^ Alpha Course cinema advert: BBC.co.uk website.
- ^ Appearance on "Football Focus", BBC: archive at zinester.com website.
- ^ "Transformed", Primus' autobiography: article from BBC.co.uk website.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Svetoslav Todorov |
Portsmouth F.C. Fans' Player of the Year 2003–2004 |
Succeeded by Arjan de Zeeuw |
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