Linvoy Primus

Early career

In Primus' early teenage years he played for his local Sunday league football club, Pretoria, based in Canning Town after being introduced by a school friend. Charlton Athletic arranged a friendly match with Pretoria and Primus was offered the chance to join the Charlton associate schoolboys which he took. For the last two years of his school life, Primus traveled to Greenwich twice a week to train with the team; in addition to this he played matches on a Sunday against the schoolboy teams of clubs such as Maidstone United and Dover Athletic. Primus initially struggled to cope; he cited the "dog eat dog" nature and the "ambitious and aggressive" parents as factors but nevertheless he decided to see it through later remarking that it was a "very strong character building experience".

Charlton Athletic

After finishing his GCSEs, where he achieved three A grades, Primus signed a two-year apprenticeship with Charlton. He also received an offer from West Ham United, who were in a higher division, but he rejected this because he felt his first team opportunities would be greater at Charlton. Primus was playing in various positions until the club's youth team coach, Colin Clarke, decided that he should play as a centre back, "I see you as a centre back, that way you can see everything you want in front of you".

Under the Youth Training Scheme, Primus was earning £35 a week while training with the youth and reserve teams as well as having cleaning…

Trish suffered from depression and was introduced to Christianity by stable owners, Keith and Sam, who invited the Primus family to join them at church on a Sunday. Initially, Primus was reluctant but Trish convinced him. Primus remarked that it was a case of "well church is the last place we'd go, but why not?" The church was more "laid-back" than the one that Primus attended as a child and he, with the rest of his family, became regular churchgoers in 2001. Trish's depression was lifted and Primus converted to Christianity later that year. "In my heart I felt whole and complete, and I wanted to read the Bible at every opportunity." According to his autobiography, Primus is able to speak in tongues.

Primus, with Darren Moore, former footballer Mick Mellows, and former Portsmouth player Joel Ward is involved with the Christian charity 'Faith and Football, and walked the Great Wall of China in summer 2005 to raise £100,000 for Prospect Children's School in Ibadan, Nigeria and a new medical centre, school and orphanage for a village in Goa. He was also involved in supporting the Alpha course, which is run all over the world, and is designed to explain Christian beliefs and promote discussion. Primus appeared in a cinema advertisement for the movement, alongside the comedian Lennie Bennett. At his former club Portsmouth, he founded a prayer group which has included teammates such as Nwankwo Kanu, Sean Davis and Benjani. In December 2006, he took part in a Football Focus…

Primus was born the first child of Newton and Pauline Primus in Forest Gate Hospital, Forest Gate, Greater London on 14 September 1973. His Jamaican-born mother worked as an orderly at Whipps Cross Hospital in nearby Leytonstone. Primus' father, who was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, worked for Thames Water as an engineer. His parents are practising Christians who took Linvoy to church and Sunday school when he was young. In his autobiography he wrote that church was "a cold unwelcoming place" for him as a child but that it "instilled in [him] a very strong sense of right and wrong". Primus attributed his desire to become a footballer from watching Ricky Villa's winning goal for Tottenham Hotspur against Manchester City in the 1981 FA Cup Final Replay. He played his first game of football two years later in a match between two Cub Scout groups and, because of his performance, he was offered a trial with the Newham District Schools under-11's by one of the Cub Scout leaders who was the manager of the Newham team. Primus was a striker or right winger at this time; in the team was future Portsmouth teammate Sol Campbell who played in midfield.

At the age of 17, Primus met future wife Trish through a mutual friend. Much to the chagrin of Primus' parents, they decided to have a child after 18 months. The footballer said in his autobiography, "Up until then I had been the model son and had brought no trouble to their door, but now they were upset at what they saw as my rebellion". In November 1993, their first son was born. Their daughter Atlanta, born in April 1997, plays for Southampton FC played in the FA Women's Championship. She previously represented England at youth level and played in the United States for California State University-Fullerton and Chelsea Women Primus and Trish married on 9 June 1999. Their third child, and second son, was born in 2002. In 2007, he released his autobiography, Transformed, which was co-written by Peter Jeffs. It received generally positive reviews: Christianity Magazine said the book was a "disarmingly honest account of Primus's triumphs and struggles on and off the pitch" while FourFourTwo described it as "an antidote to the 'me-me-me' tales that weigh down the shelves". Rival football magazine When Saturday Comes was more critical, pointing out its "sometimes ungrammatical and often ponderous style" and going on to say "[the] book is also full of cliches".