lay out the kits and the boots for the senior players. He admitted this may have earned him "Brownie points" with the youth management. Primus began playing in the reserves under manager Alan Curbishley and, at the end of his apprenticeship, Primus was offered a one-year professional contract by the new youth team coach John Cartwright. Darlington was the only other apprentice who was offered a contract. Due to injuries to first team centre backs Simon Webster and Darren Pitcher, Primus made his professional debut against Birmingham City. The match took place at their substitute stadium Upton Park in November 1992 and Primus was awarded man of the match for his performance. Primus played the next two matches against Leicester City and Brentford but was disappointed with his performances. Primus made two further first team appearances in the 1992–93 season but soon found himself lower in the pecking order after other players returned from injury and Primus got injured. He felt that he had to leave the club: "I really felt as though I wasn't wanted and that my days were numbered." Despite this, he signed a one-year extension with the Greenwich-based club. However, he suffered another muscle injury, and with further competition for places in the form of Dean Chandler and Richard Rufus, he failed to make a single appearance for Charlton in the 1993–94 season. He was released at the end of it. Barnet Primus first rejected a trial with Crewe Alexandra before accepting one with Cardiff City. Just three days before his trial with Cardiff was set to begin Ray Clemence, the Barnet manager, offered Primus a two-year contract with the club. It was later revealed that Clemence was told by his assistant, Terry Harvey, that he should sign him immediately: "Get in now and sign him, if he goes down to Cardiff and sees their stadium he will sign for them." Primus was determined to prove Charlton wrong and says he "grew from a boy to a man" at Barnet. This was also a time when depression was common for Primus, and he became addicted to alcohol and drugs such as ecstasy and LSD. In the second game of the 1994–95 season against Leyton Orient, Primus made his debut as a substitute coming on for the injured Mark Newson. His next appearance for Barnet, against Scarborough, was described as the "worst performance of [his] career" in