Linvoy Primus

Linvoy Primus

Personal information
Full name	Linvoy Stephen Primus
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s)	Centre back / Right Back
Team information
Current team	Portsmouth
Number	2

Linvoy Stephen Primus (born 14 September 1973 in Forest Gate, Greater London) is an English football player, writer and Christian charity worker. He currently plays for Portsmouth, and is primarily a central defender, though he also can play at right back.

Club career

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.) for the 2000–01 season.

Portsmouth

He did not get his Portsmouth career 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 players 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. Primus credits his renaissance to his conversion to Christianity 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. 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, who had been won over by his performances and was now one of his 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.

After nearly a two year absence, Primus made a comeback to the Portsmouth first team on May 18th, 2009, the penultimate game of the 2008-09 season, as a late substitute appearance against Sunderland at Fratton Park. He received a standing ovation from the home crowd and was cheered each time he touched the ball.

Primus has signed a one-year extension to his contract with the Pompey.

Charlton Athletic

In August 2008 Primus returned to Charlton Athletic on a loan deal, however the deal almost collapsed as negotiations broke down between Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp and Charlton manager Alan Pardew. Pardew wanted the centre half for the whole of the 2008/09 season, but Redknapp was only happy to loan him out until Christmas of 2008 in order to gain match fitness, and it appeared the deal would be called off by Portsmouth. Finally Charlton agreed to the terms and Primus move to the Valley on a three month loan days before the transfer window closed.

Personal life

Primus is involved with Christian Charity Faith & Football, and walked the Great Wall of China in summer 2005 for the charity. 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, and appeared in a cinema advertisement for the movement, alongside the comedian Lennie Bennett.. He is a leading light of the "Pray up Pompey" matchday bootroom prayer group. In December 2006, he took part in a Football Focus feature on faith in the game. In 2007, he released his autobiography, "Transformed ".

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1992-93||rowspan="2"|Charlton Athletic||rowspan="2"|First Division||4||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||colspan="2"|-||5||0 |- |1993-94||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|- |- |1994-95||rowspan="3"|Barnet||rowspan="3"|Third Division||39||0||2||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||45||0 |- |1995-96||42||4||2||1||4||0||colspan="2"|-||48||5 |- |1996-97||46||3||1||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||51||3 |- |1997-98||rowspan="3"|Reading||First Division||35||1||1||0||6||0||colspan="2"|-||42||1 |- |1998-99||rowspan="2"|Second Division||31||0||1||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||35||0 |- |1999-00||28||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||32||0 |- |2000-01||rowspan="9"|Portsmouth||rowspan="3"|First Division||23||0||colspan="2"|-||3||0||colspan="2"|-||26||0 |- |2001-02||22||2||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||23||2 |- |2002-03||40||0||1||0||2||1||colspan="2"|-||43||1 |- |2003-04||rowspan="6"|Premier League||21||0||4||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||26||0 |- |2004-05||35||1||2||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||40||1 |- |2005-06||20||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||21||0 |- |2006-07||36||2||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||39||2 |- |2007-08||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|- |- |2008-09||1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0 |- |2008-09||rowspan="1"|Charlton Athletic||rowspan="1"|Championship||10||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||10||1 |- Template:Football player statistics 3432||14||22||1||32||1||colspan="2"|-||486||16 Template:Football player statistics 5432||14||22||1||32||1||colspan="2"|-||486||16 |}

External links

• Linvoy Primus at Soccerbase

• BBC profile
• Interview at Premier.tv
• Interview by Philip Halcrow of The War Cry (PDF file)