Luther Blissett (footballer)
Encyclopedia
Luther Loide Blissett is a former professional footballer and manager
, who is currently a first-team coach at Hemel Hempstead Town
. 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 the club'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. Although born in Jamaica, Blissett was capped
14 times by the England national football team
, 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.
Away from football, Blissett is involved in motorsport, along with fellow former Watford and England players John Barnes
and Les Ferdinand
. Since the mid-1990s, Luther Blissett has frequently been used as a pseudonym
, most notably by members of the Luther Blissett Project
.
, 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 appaearances 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.
Blissett and his team mates made the headlines in the 1982–83 season
as they surprised many by proving successful in the First Division and briefly led the league in the autumn before finishing second to Liverpool
and qualified for the UEFA Cup
. In Watford's first ever First Division season, Blissett was the division's top goalscorer that season with 27 goals. He subsequently moved to A.C. Milan
for £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 teammate John Barnes
. Blissett was sold, at a loss, back to Watford for £550,000 after only one season at the Italian club. "No matter how much money you have here", he famously complained about Italy, "you can't seem to get Rice Krispies
."
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 the FA Cup
semi finals in 1986–87
, 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 for AFC Bournemouth.
Blissett was successful at Dean Court, scoring 19 times from 30 league games in 1988–89
as the Cherries finished 10th after emerging as surprise promotion contenders in only their second season at that level. He scored 18 goals in 1989–90
, though a terrible second half of the season dragged the Cherries down the table and on the last day of the season they were beaten at home by Leeds United
in a result which gave the visitors promotion as Second Division champions and relegated the Cherries to the Third Division. Undeterred, Blissett continued his fine form for Harry Redknapp's
team, scoring 19 goals, though it wasn't enough to earn promotion at the end of the 1990–91
campaign.
Blissett returned to Watford for a third spell at the start of the 1991–92
. They were still a Second Division club, and his 10 goals in the league that season weren't enough for Watford to look like promotion contenders, meaning that they would be founder members of the rebranded Division One – rather than the new FA Premier League
– for the 1992–93
season. 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.
He ended his English league career in early winter 1993 with a five-match spell with Division Three with (where he scored once) that had followed 10 games with their rivals . After that came a five-match spell in the Football Conference
at , producing two goals, and four games and a goal for in the League of Ireland
, before he finally retired from playing in 1995 after a season playing for in the Eastern Counties Football League
, Blissett became one of the first black
footballers to play for the senior team
. He scored a hat-trick
on his full international debut – a 9–0 win over Luxembourg
, in doing so becoming the first black player ever to score a hat-trick for England. He never scored in any other international, however, despite playing for England a further 13 times.
by agreeing to play for Fakenham Town
in Norfolk, whose chairman was a lifelong Watford fan, and big crowds turned out wherever he played. He then rejoined Watford as a coach
in February 1996, coming in with returning manager Graham Taylor
. He left the club in June 2001, following the appointment of Gianluca Vialli
as 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 and Kenny Jackett
.
In May 2002, he moved to York City
to carry out a coaching role. He later left that post and on 15 February 2006 was appointed manager of Southern League team Chesham United
. 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 that aims to enter the Le Mans 24 hour race
.
On 27 March 2010, it was confirmed that Blissett had signed to Hemel Hempstead Town
as a coach.
and Bravo's coverage of Serie A
.
With fellow former Watford and England footballers John Barnes
and Les Ferdinand
, he founded Team48 Motorsport; a team aiming to promote young racing drivers of Afro-Caribbean background. In 2008, Blissett entered a team into the British Touring Car Championship
, aiming to run Alfa Romeo
s for white Jamaican Matthew Gore and 18-year-old black Briton Darelle Wilson.
Soccer A.M., a football magazine programme on Sky Sports, refers to the area where 'fans of the week' sit as the 'Luthur 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.
s, 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 with A.C. Milan
, and has since then been widely used by artists, underground reviews, poets, performers and squatters' collectives in cities throughout Europe and South America. In 1999 "Luther Blissett" authored a historical novel called Q
, 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 show Fantasy Football League
– Euro 2004, broadcast on ITV
. 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]. Highlights of the show are available on YouTube.
|1975–76||rowspan="8"|Watford
||rowspan="3"|Fourth Division
||3||1||||||||
|-
|1976–77||4||0||||||||
|-
|1977–78||33||6||||||||
|-
|1978–79||Third Division
||41||21||||||||
|-
|1979–80||rowspan="3"|Second Division
||42||10||||||||
|-
|1980–81||42||11||||||||
|-
|1981–82||40||19||||||||
|-
|1982–83||First Division
||41||27||||||||
|-
|1983–84||A.C. Milan
||Serie A
||30||5||9||1||39||6
|-
|1984–85||rowspan="5"|Watford
||rowspan="4"|First Division
||41||21||||||||
|-
|1985–86||23||7||||||||
|-
|1986–87||35||11||||||||
|-
|1987–88||25||4||||||||
|-
|1988–89||Second Division
||3||1||||||||
|-
|1988–89||rowspan="3"|Bournemouth
||rowspan="2"|Second Division
||30||19||||||||
|-
|1989–90||46||18||||||||
|-
|1990–91||Third Division
||45||19||||||||
|-
|1991–92||Watford
||Second Division
||42||10||||||||
|-
|1992–93||West Bromwich Albion
||Second Division
||3||1||||||||
|-
|1993–94||Bury
||Third Division
||10||1||||||||
|-
|1993–94||Mansfield Town
||Third Division
||5||1||||||||
554||208||||||||
30||5||||||||
584||213||||||||
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
, who is currently a first-team coach at Hemel Hempstead Town
Hemel Hempstead Town F.C.
Hemel Hempstead Town are a football club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, who currently play in the Southern League Premier Division. They are known as the Tudors and play their games at Vauxhall Road...
. Blissett played as a striker, and is best known for his time at Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
, whom he helped win promotion from the Fourth Division
Football League Fourth Division
The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...
to the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
. As of 2010, Blissett holds the club's all-time records for appearances and goals, having played 503 games and scored 186 goals. Blissett's other clubs included A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
, who paid £1m for him in 1983 before selling him back to Watford for £550,000 in 1984, and A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....
, for whom he had a goals-to-games ratio of nearly one goal in every two appearances. Although born in Jamaica, Blissett was capped
Cap (sport)
In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
14 times by the England national football team
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
, 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
Chesham United F.C.
Chesham United is an English football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, currently playing in the Southern League. They are nicknamed "The Generals" because they were once the football team of the General Baptist Church in Chesham. Chesham Generals merged with Chesham Town to form United...
from 2006 until 2007.
Away from football, Blissett is involved in motorsport, along with fellow former Watford and England players John Barnes
John Barnes (footballer)
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE is an English football manager and former player.During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times...
and Les Ferdinand
Les Ferdinand
Leslie "Les" Ferdinand MBE is a former English footballer. His playing career included spells at Queens Park Rangers, Besiktas J.K., Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers F.C., during which period he earned a number of appearances for England...
. Since the mid-1990s, Luther Blissett has frequently been used as a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, most notably by members of the Luther Blissett Project
Luther Blissett (nom de plume)
Luther Blissett is a multiple-use name, an "open reputation" informally adopted and shared by hundreds of artists and activists all over Europe and the Americas since 1994...
.
Club career
Born in Falmouth, JamaicaFalmouth, Jamaica
Falmouth is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny in Jamaica. It is situated on Jamaica's north coast 18 miles east of Montego Bay. It is noted for being one of the Caribbean’s best-preserved Georgian towns....
, 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
1975-76 in English football
The 1975–76 season was the 96th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool won their first major trophy under Bob Paisley by narrowly winning the league title after heated competition from Queens Park Rangers. They also lifted the UEFA Cup for the second time in their...
, making three appaearances in the Football League Fourth Division
Football League Fourth Division
The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...
and scoring one goal. Four goalless appearances came in the 1976–77 season
1976-77 in English football
The 1976–77 season was the 97th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:The Football League revamped the tie-breaking criteria for teams level of points, replacing the traditional goal average tie-breaker with one based on goal difference to try to encourage more scoring...
, before he broke into the first team under new manager Graham Taylor in 1977–78
1977-78 in English football
The 1977–1978 season was the 98th season of competitive football in England, from August 1977 to May 1978:-First Division:Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest side took on the First Division by storm, by winning the League Cup on 22 March and confirming themselves as league champions the following month...
, when his six goals in 33 games helped Watford win promotion to the Football League Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
. 21 goals the following campaign played a big part in a second successive promotion which took them into the Football League Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
. 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
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
for the first time in their history in 1982, at the end of a season in which Blissett scored 19 league goals.
Blissett and his team mates made the headlines in the 1982–83 season
1982-83 in English football
The 1982–83 season was the 103rd season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Bob Paisley's last season as Liverpool manager ended on a high as they topped the First Division with a comfortable lead. Bob Paisley retired as Liverpool manager with a record 21 prizes in nine years. His...
as they surprised many by proving successful in the First Division and briefly led the league in the autumn before finishing second to Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
and qualified for the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
. In Watford's first ever First Division season, Blissett was the division's top goalscorer that season with 27 goals. He subsequently moved to A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
for £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 teammate John Barnes
John Barnes (footballer)
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE is an English football manager and former player.During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times...
. Blissett was sold, at a loss, back to Watford for £550,000 after only one season at the Italian club. "No matter how much money you have here", he famously complained about Italy, "you can't seem to get Rice Krispies
Rice Krispies
Rice Krispies is a breakfast cereal that was created by Clayton Rindlisbacher for the Kellogg company, and later marketed by Kellogg's in 1927 and released to the public in 1928...
."
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 the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
semi finals in 1986–87
1986-87 in English football
The 1986–87 season was the 107th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :The First Division championship went to Everton in their final season under the management of Howard Kendall before his departure to Athletic Bilbao. His side overcame a spate of injuries to fight off...
, 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 for AFC Bournemouth.
Blissett was successful at Dean Court, scoring 19 times from 30 league games in 1988–89
1988-89 in English football
The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football in England.-Hillsborough disaster:On 15 April, a crowd crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough killed 94 people and injured more than 300. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
as the Cherries finished 10th after emerging as surprise promotion contenders in only their second season at that level. He scored 18 goals in 1989–90
1989-90 in English football
-European competitions:English clubs were still banned from competing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster.- First Division :...
, though a terrible second half of the season dragged the Cherries down the table and on the last day of the season they were beaten at home by Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
in a result which gave the visitors promotion as Second Division champions and relegated the Cherries to the Third Division. Undeterred, Blissett continued his fine form for Harry Redknapp's
Harry Redknapp
Henry James "Harry" Redknapp is a former English footballer who has enjoyed a long career in football management starting in 1983 with Bournemouth. He is the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur....
team, scoring 19 goals, though it wasn't enough to earn promotion at the end of the 1990–91
1990-91 in English football
The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Arsenal won the league. Runners-up spot was achieved by Liverpool, who had led the table for much of the first half of the season but had been shell-shocked in February by the sudden resignation of manager...
campaign.
Blissett returned to Watford for a third spell at the start of the 1991–92
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
. They were still a Second Division club, and his 10 goals in the league that season weren't enough for Watford to look like promotion contenders, meaning that they would be founder members of the rebranded Division One – rather than the new FA Premier League
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
– for the 1992–93
1992-93 in English football
The 1992–1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions....
season. 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.
He ended his English league career in early winter 1993 with a five-match spell with Division Three with (where he scored once) that had followed 10 games with their rivals . After that came a five-match spell in the Football Conference
Football Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
at , producing two goals, and four games and a goal for in the League of Ireland
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
, before he finally retired from playing in 1995 after a season playing for in the Eastern Counties Football League
Eastern Counties Football League
The Eastern Counties Football League is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is a feeder to the regional divisions of the Isthmian League and Southern...
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 for England under-21sEngland national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....
, Blissett became one of the first black
Black British
Black British is a term used to describe British people of Black African descent, especially those of Afro-Caribbean background. The term has been used from the 1950s to refer to Black people from former British colonies in the West Indies and Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and...
footballers to play for the senior team
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
. He scored a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
on his full international debut – a 9–0 win over Luxembourg
Luxembourg national football team
The Luxembourg national football team is the national football team of Luxembourg, and is controlled by the Luxembourg Football Federation. The team play most of their home matches at the Stade Josy Barthel, in Luxembourg.- History :...
, in doing so becoming the first black player ever to score a hat-trick for England. He never scored in any other international, however, despite playing for England a further 13 times.
Coaching career
Following retirement from playing in league football in 1994, Blissett created a huge stir in the Eastern Counties Football LeagueEastern Counties Football League
The Eastern Counties Football League is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is a feeder to the regional divisions of the Isthmian League and Southern...
by agreeing to play for Fakenham Town
Fakenham Town F.C.
Fakenham Town F.C. is an English football club based in Fakenham, Norfolk. The club are currently members of Eastern Counties League Division One and play at Clipbush Park.The club is affiliated to the Norfolk County FA.-History:...
in Norfolk, whose chairman was a lifelong Watford fan, and big crowds turned out wherever he played. He then rejoined Watford as a coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
in February 1996, coming in with returning manager Graham Taylor
Graham Taylor (football manager)
Graham Taylor OBE is a football pundit, ex-football manager, and a former player. He is best known as the manager of the England national football team, as well as being manager of Watford, a club he took from the Fourth Division to the First in the space of five years, then from bottom of the...
. He left the club in June 2001, following the appointment of Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli is an Italian football manager and former player. Since retiring, he has gone into management and punditry and is a commentator for Sky Sport Italia....
as 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 and Kenny Jackett
Kenny Jackett
Kenny Jackett is a former Wales international football player, who has since moved into management. He is the current manager of Millwall, the longest serving manager in the Football League Championship and eleventh longest serving manager in England.A skilful player, equally at home in defence or...
.
In May 2002, he moved to York City
York City F.C.
York City Football Club is an English football club based in York, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined the Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions...
to carry out a coaching role. He later left that post and on 15 February 2006 was appointed manager of Southern League team Chesham United
Chesham United F.C.
Chesham United is an English football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, currently playing in the Southern League. They are nicknamed "The Generals" because they were once the football team of the General Baptist Church in Chesham. Chesham Generals merged with Chesham Town to form United...
. 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 that aims to enter the Le Mans 24 hour race
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
.
On 27 March 2010, it was confirmed that Blissett had signed to Hemel Hempstead Town
Hemel Hempstead Town F.C.
Hemel Hempstead Town are a football club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, who currently play in the Southern League Premier Division. They are known as the Tudors and play their games at Vauxhall Road...
as a coach.
Personal life & cultural impact
Blissett has worked as a television pundit for Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and Bravo's coverage of Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
.
With fellow former Watford and England footballers John Barnes
John Barnes (footballer)
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE is an English football manager and former player.During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times...
and Les Ferdinand
Les Ferdinand
Leslie "Les" Ferdinand MBE is a former English footballer. His playing career included spells at Queens Park Rangers, Besiktas J.K., Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers F.C., during which period he earned a number of appearances for England...
, he founded Team48 Motorsport; a team aiming to promote young racing drivers of Afro-Caribbean background. In 2008, Blissett entered a team into the British Touring Car Championship
British Touring Car Championship
The British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom. The Championship was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and has run to various rules over the years – "production cars", then FIA Group 1 or 2 in the late 1960s...
, aiming to run Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
s for white Jamaican Matthew Gore and 18-year-old black Briton Darelle Wilson.
Soccer A.M., a football magazine programme on Sky Sports, refers to the area where 'fans of the week' sit as the 'Luthur 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.
Blissett and the "Luther Blissett Project"
Blissett's name has been adopted by many people in radical activist circles as a nom de plume or collective alias when engaged in weird performances, situationist prankSituationist prank
Situationist prank is a term used in the mass media to label a distinctive tactic by the Situationist International, consisting of setting up a subversive political prank, hoax or stunt; In the terminology of the Situationist International, stunts and media pranks are very similar to situations...
s, 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 with A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
, and has since then been widely used by artists, underground reviews, poets, performers and squatters' collectives in cities throughout Europe and South America. In 1999 "Luther Blissett" authored a historical novel called Q
Q (novel)
Q is a novel by Luther Blissett first published in Italian in 1999. The novel is set in Europe during the 16th century, and deals with Protestant reformation movements....
, 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 show Fantasy Football League
Fantasy Football League
Fantasy Football League is a British television programme hosted by Frank Skinner and David Baddiel. The Programme began on BBC Radio 5 and was hosted by Dominik Diamond before transferring to BBC 2, with three series being broadcast from January 1994 to May 1996...
– Euro 2004, broadcast on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. 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]. Highlights of the show are available on YouTube.
Career statistics
|-|1975–76||rowspan="8"|Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
||rowspan="3"|Fourth Division
Football League Fourth Division
The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...
||3||1||||||||
|-
|1976–77||4||0||||||||
|-
|1977–78||33||6||||||||
|-
|1978–79||Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
||41||21||||||||
|-
|1979–80||rowspan="3"|Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
||42||10||||||||
|-
|1980–81||42||11||||||||
|-
|1981–82||40||19||||||||
|-
|1982–83||First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
||41||27||||||||
|-
|1983–84||A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
||30||5||9||1||39||6
|-
|1984–85||rowspan="5"|Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
||rowspan="4"|First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
||41||21||||||||
|-
|1985–86||23||7||||||||
|-
|1986–87||35||11||||||||
|-
|1987–88||25||4||||||||
|-
|1988–89||Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
||3||1||||||||
|-
|1988–89||rowspan="3"|Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....
||rowspan="2"|Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
||30||19||||||||
|-
|1989–90||46||18||||||||
|-
|1990–91||Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
||45||19||||||||
|-
|1991–92||Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
||Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
||42||10||||||||
|-
|1992–93||West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
||Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
||3||1||||||||
|-
|1993–94||Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
||Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
||10||1||||||||
|-
|1993–94||Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town F.C.
Mansfield Town Football Club is an English football club from the former mining town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The club was formed in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans and changed its name to Mansfield Wesley in 1906 before settling on Mansfield Town in 1910...
||Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
||5||1||||||||
554||208||||||||
30||5||||||||
584||213||||||||
External links
- A Translated Interview with Luther Blissett from Italian Daily Newspaper L'Unità, followed by a comment from Wu MingWu MingWu Ming is a pseudonym for a group of Italian authors formed in 2000 from a subset of the Luther Blissett community in Bologna.In their pre-Wu Ming days, the group wrote the novel Q ....
, the writers formerly known as the "Luther Blissett Project". - BBC Sport article