Luther Blissett (footballer)
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Luther Loide Blissett (born February 1, 1958 in Falmouth, Jamaica) is a footballer and coach. Blissett played as a striker for, amongst others, Watford, A.C. Milan and England during the 1980s.
He was one of the first black footballers to play for England, and scored a hat-trick on his first full international match (in a 9-0 win over Luxembourg), although he never scored in any other international, leading the tabloid newspapers to dub him "Luther Missitt".
Blissett made 246 appearances for Watford, his first club, between 1975 and 1983, scoring 95 goals (including 27 goals in the 1982-3 season). Blissett moved to Milan for £1m in summer 1983, but he was not as successful as he had been in England, as he scored only 5 goals in 30 appearances (it has been suggested that scouts confused him with another black player at Watford at the time, John Barnes). Blissett was sold, at a loss, back to Watford for £550,000 after only one season at the Italian club.
Blissett played for Watford for a second time until 1988 (scoring another 44 goals in 127 appearances), then moved to Bournemouth for three years, back to Watford (for a third time), before finishing his career with short spells at West Bromwich Albion, Bury and Mansfield.
Following retirement from playing in 1994, Blissett rejoined Watford as a coach in 1996. In April 2002, he moved to York City to carry out a similar role. He has also worked as a television pundit, for Channel 4's coverage of Serie A.
Blissett holds the records for the most appearances (415) and scoring the most goals (158) for Watford. His notorious year playing for Milan has inspired the name of the Italian nom de plume/anarchist collective Luther Blissett.
References
- BBC Sport article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/293678.stm)
- FA website profile (http://www.thefa.com/Features/EnglishDomestic/Postings/2003/07/54903.htm)
- ThisIsYork profile (http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/archive/2002/05/27/york_sport_local6ZM.html)