Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Luther Loide Blissett | ||
Date of birth | 1 February 1958 | ||
Place of birth | Falmouth, Jamaica | ||
Playing position | Striker | ||
Youth career | |||
1974–1975 | 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 | |
National team | |||
1979 | England U21 | 4 | (0) |
1984 | England B | 1 | (0) |
1982–1984 | England | 14 | (3) |
Teams managed | |||
2006–2007 | Chesham United | ||
2016 | Burnham (caretaker) | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional footballer and manager who played for the England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Blissett played as a striker, and is best known for his time at Watford, whom he helped win promotion from the Fourth Division to the First Division. As of 2010, Blissett holds Watford's all-time records for appearances and goals, having played 503 games and scored 186 goals.
Blissett's other clubs included A.C. Milan, who paid £1m for him in 1983 before selling him back to Watford for £550,000 in 1984, and A.F.C. Bournemouth, for whom he had a goals-to-games ratio of nearly one goal in every two appearances. Blissett was capped 14 times by England, scoring a hat-trick on his debut. After retiring from playing, Blissett turned to coaching, initially under the management of Graham Taylor at Watford, and managed Chesham United from 2006 until 2007.
Since the mid-1990s, Luther Blissett has frequently been used as a pseudonym, most notably by members of the Luther Blissett Project.
Born in Falmouth, Jamaica, Blissett began his career with Watford as an apprentice on leaving school in the summer of 1974. He turned professional for the 1975–76 season, making three appearances in the Football League Fourth Division and scoring one goal. Four goalless appearances came in the 1976–77 season, before he broke into the first team under new manager Graham Taylor in 1977–78, when his six goals in 33 games helped Watford win promotion to the Football League Third Division. 21 goals the following campaign played a big part in a second successive promotion which took them into the Football 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 the First Division for the first time in their history in 1982, at the end of a season in which Blissett scored 19 league goals.