Luther Blissett

For the pseudonym used by many artists and authors, seeLuther Blissett (pseudonym).

Luther Blissett
OBEDL

Personal information
Full name	Luther Loide Blissett
Date of birth	(1958-02-01)1 February 1958
Place of birth	Falmouth,Jamaica
Height	5 ft10+1⁄2in (1.79 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1974–1976	Watford
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1975–1983	Watford	246	(95)
1983–1984	A.C. Milan	30	(5)
1984–1988	Watford	127	(44)
1988–1991	Bournemouth	121	(56)
1991–1993	Watford	42	(9)
1992	→West Bromwich Albion(loan)	3	(1)
1993–1994	Bury	10	(1)
1993	→Derry City(loan)	4	(1)
1993–1994	→Mansfield Town(loan)	5	(1)
1994	→Southport(loan)	5	(2)
1994–1995	Wimborne Town
1995–1996	Fakenham Town
2007	Chesham United	2
International career
1979	England U21	4	(0)
1984	England B	1	(0)
1982–1984	England	14	(3)
Managerial career
2006–2007	Chesham United
2016	Burnham(caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Luther Loide BlissettOBEDL(born 1 February 1958) is a former professionalfootballerandmanagerwho played for theEngland national teamduring the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Blissett played as astriker,and is best known for his time atWatford,whom he helped win promotion from theFourth Divisionto theFirst Division.As of 2022, Blissett holds Watford's all-time records for appearances and goals, having played 503 games and scored 186 goals.

Blissett's other clubs includedA.C. Milan,who paid £1m for him in 1983 before selling him back to Watford for £550,000 in 1984, andAFC Bournemouth,for whom he had a goals-to-games ratio of nearly one goal in every two appearances. Blissett wascapped14 times by England, scoring a hat-trick on his debut. After retiring from playing, Blissett turned to coaching, initially under the management ofGraham Taylorat Watford, and managedChesham Unitedfrom 2006 until 2007.

Since the mid-1990s, Luther Blissett has frequently been used as apseudonym,most notably by members of theLuther Blissett Project.

Club career

Watford

Born inFalmouth, Jamaica,Blissett began his career with Watford as an apprentice on leaving school in the summer of 1974. He turned professional for the1975–76 season,making three appearances in theFootball League Fourth Divisionand scoring one goal. Four goalless appearances came in the1976–77 season,before he broke into the first team under new managerGraham Taylorin1977–78,when his six goals in 33 games helped Watford win promotion to theFootball League Third Division.21 goals the following campaign played a big part in a second successive promotion which took them into theFootball League Second Division.He remained among the club's top goalscorers over the next three seasons as Watford consolidated in the Second Division and finally reached theFirst Divisionfor the first time in their history in 1982, at the end of a season in which Blissett scored 19 league goals.

Blissett and his teammates made the headlines in the1982–83 seasonas they surprised many by proving successful in the First Division. Watford briefly led the league in the autumn, before finishing second toLiverpooland qualified for theUEFA Cup.In Watford's first ever First Division season, Blissett was the division's top goalscorer that season with 27 goals.

A.C. Milan

He subsequently moved toA.C. Milanfor £1 million in June 1983, but he was not as successful as he had been in England, scoring only five goals in 30 appearances. It has since been rumoured that A.C. Milan confused him with his Watford teammateJohn Barnes.However Italian football journalistGabriele Marcottibelieves this story is untrue. "There are two main reason for which I think it's not true," he says. "First, even the most ignorant and provincial person could see that Blissett and Barnes looked absolutely nothing alike. Second, the fact is that at that time Milan were looking for an out-and-out goalscorer and Barnes just wasn't that type of player.""No matter how much money you have here", Blissett famously complained about Italy, "you can't seem to getRice Krispies,"though he later claimed this was a joking response to what he considered a stupid question from a journalist.

Return to Watford

Blissett was sold back to Watford for £550,000 after one season with AC Milan. In his absence, Watford had reached their firstFA Cupfinal, but lost toEverton,while new signingMo Johnstonwas top scorer with 20 goals in the First Division.

On Blissett's return, Watford failed to achieve their successes of the previous two seasons, but survived another four seasons in the First Division. Blissett scored 21 goals in his first season back in the First Division, though the Hornets could only manage a mid table finish. He also helped them reach theFA Cupsemi finals in1986–87,but a year later they were relegated with Blissett scoring just four times in the league. He remained with the club until November 1988, when he signed forAFC Bournemouth.

Bournemouth

Blissett was successful atDean Court,scoring 19 times from 30 league games in1988–89as the Cherries finished 10th in the Second Division, after emerging as surprise promotion contenders in only their second season at that level. He scored 18 goals in1989–90,though a slump in the second half of the season dragged the Cherries down the table and on the last day of the season they were beaten at home byLeeds Unitedin a result which gave the visitor's promotion as Second Division champions and relegated the Cherries to the Third Division. Undeterred, Blissett continued his fine form forHarry Redknapp's team, scoring 19 goals, though it wasn't enough to earn promotion at the end of the1990–91campaign.

Third spell at Watford

Blissett returned to Watford for a third spell at the start of the1991–92season. They were still in the Second Division, and his 10 goals in the league that season were not enough for Watford to look like promotion contenders, meaning that they would be founder members of the rebranded Division One – rather than the newFA Premier League– for the1992–93season. Blissett never played a first team game for Watford again, his only action in 1992–93 coming in shape of a three-match loan spell at West Bromwich Albion, which resulted in one Division Two goal.

Lower leagues

He ended his English league career in late 1993 with a five-match spell with Division Three clubMansfield Town(where he scored once) that had followed 10 games clubBury.After that came a five-match spell in theFootball ConferenceatSouthport,producing two goals, and four games and a goal forDerry Cityin theLeague of Ireland,before he finally retired from playing in 1995 after a season playing forFakenham Townin theEastern Counties Football League.

International career

Although born in Jamaica, Blissett was eligible to play for England having moved to the country at a young age. After making four appearances forEngland under-21s,Blissett became one of the firstblackfootballers to play for thesenior team.He scored ahat-trickon his full international debut – a 9–0 win overLuxembourg,in doing so becoming the first black player ever to score for England.He never scored in any other international, however, despite playing for England a further 13 times.

Coaching career

He rejoined Watford as acoachin February 1996, coming in with returning managerGraham Taylor.He left the club in June 2001, following the appointment ofGianluca Viallias manager. Vialli wanted to appoint his own backroom staff, and Blissett was among those deemed surplus to requirements. Taylor was publicly critical of the decision not to retain long-serving members of staff such as Blissett andKenny Jackett.

In May 2002, he moved toYork Cityto carry out a coaching role.He later left that post and on 15 February 2006 was appointed manager ofSouthern LeagueteamChesham United,which he even made two appearances for as a substitute. However, in April 2007, it was announced that Blissett would leave Chesham at the end of the season to concentrate on his involvement with the Windrush Motorsport project, which aimed to enter theLe Mans 24-hour race.

On 27 March 2010, it was confirmed that Blissett had signed toHemel Hempstead Townas a coach.

In the summer of 2016, Blissett was appointed Director of Football atBurnham,briefly serving as caretaker after the departures of bothDave TuttleandGifton Noel-Williams.

Personal life and cultural impact

Blissett has worked as a television pundit forChannel 4andBravo's coverage ofSerie A.

With fellow former Watford and England footballersJohn BarnesandLes Ferdinand,he foundedTeam48 Motorsport;a team aiming to promote young racing drivers of Afro-Caribbean background. In 2008, Blissett entered a team into theBritish Touring Car Championship,aiming to runAlfa Romeosfor whiteJamaicanMatthew Gore and 18-year-old black Briton Darelle Wilson.However, the project never got off the starting line and the team failed to show up for any of the races.

Soccer AM,a football magazine programme onSky Sports,refers to the area where 'fans of the week' sit as the 'Luther Blissett Stand'.

In 2011, Blissett took part in a celebrity motor race at the 2011 Silverstone Classic. He had a large crash on the opening lap, rolling the car several times. He was unhurt. Rick Parfitt Jnr won the race, with Heston Blumenthal second and Brendan Cole third. They were all raising money for the Bobby Moore fund for Cancer Research. From 2014, Blissett was racing anAlfa 156in theBRSCCAlfashop Alfa Romeo Championship.

Blissett was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire(OBE) in the2022 Birthday Honoursfor services to association football and charity.

Blissett and the "Luther Blissett Project"

Main article:Luther Blissett (nom de plume)

Blissett's name has been adopted by many people in radical activist circles as anom de plumeor collective alias when engaged in unusual performances,situationist pranks,media hoaxes, and the production of radical theory. The Luther Blissett multiple name project first began in 1994 in Italy, no doubt a consequence of his link withA.C. Milan,and has since then been widely used by artists, underground reviews, poets, performers andsquatters' collectives in cities throughout Europe and South America. In 1999 "Luther Blissett" authored a historical novel calledQ,which sold hundreds of thousands of copies in over ten languages.

On 30 June 2004, the real Luther Blissett took part in the British television sports showFantasy Football League– Euro 2004,broadcast onITV.He jokingly claimed that he himself was part of the Luther Blissett Project, and read aloud the following sentence from an LBP manifesto (in Italian): "Chiunque può essere Luther Blissett, semplicemente adottando il nome Luther Blissett" [Anyone can be Luther Blissett simply by adopting the name Luther Blissett].

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Watford	1975–76	Fourth Division	3	1
	1976–77		4	0
	1977–78		33	6
	1978–79	Third Division	41	21
	1979–80	Second Division	42	10
	1980–81		42	11
	1981–82		40	19
	1982–83	First Division	41	27						33
	Total		246	95						101
A.C. Milan	1983–84	Serie A	30	5	9	1	–		39	6
Watford	1984–85	First Division	41	21
	1985–86		23	7
	1986–87		35	11
	1987–88		25	4
	1988–89	Second Division	3	1
	Total		127	44
AFC Bournemouth	1988–89	Second Division	30	19
	1989–90		46	18
	1990–91	Third Division	45	19
	Total		121	56
Watford	1991–92	Second Division	42	10
West Bromwich Albion	1992–93	Second Division	3	1
Bury	1993–94	Third Division	10	1
Mansfield Town	1993–94	Third Division	5	1
Career total			584	213

Honours

• He was awarded theFreedom of the BoroughofWatfordon 10 March 2021.

• He was appointed as aDeputy LieutenantofHertfordshirein July 2021.
• He was awarded anOBEinJune 2022.

See also

• List of England international footballers born outside England

External links

• A Translated Interview with Luther Blissettfrom Italian Daily NewspaperL'Unità,followed by a comment fromWu Ming,the writers formerly known as the "Luther Blissett Project".
• BBC Sport article