BLISSETT, LUTHER (WATFORD) was the top scorer in Division 1 (now Premier League) in 1982/83
Season: 1982/83
Goals scored: 27 (out of 74); 21 home, 6 away
Percentage: 36.4 per cent
Runner-up: Ian Rush (Liverpool), 24 goals
Watford finished second
Luther Blissett established himself in Watford’s first team
under manager Graham Taylor during the 1977/78 season, when his six goals in
thirty-three games helped the Hornets gain promotion to the old Third Division.
Another twenty-one goals followed in 1978/79, when the Vicarage Road club won a
place in Division Two.
Among Watford’s top marksmen over the next three seasons, he
bagged nineteen more League goals in 1981/82, when the Hornets clinched a place
in the top flight for the first time in the club’s history.
Blissett and his team-mates then made the headlines in 1982/83
by surprising many of their rivals in the First Division and, in fact, briefly
topped the League in the autumn before finishing runners-up to Liverpool, as
well as qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
In Watford’s first ever season of top flight football, Blissett
finished as the First Division’s top goalscorer, with twenty-seven goals. And
not too many players have achieved that feat!
In the opening three
games of the 1982/83 season Blissett wore the number 4 shirt, playing just
behind strikers Gerry Armstrong and Ross Jenkins, with Nigel Callaghan and John
Barnes the two wide men.
Watford won their opening two games (at home to Everton and
away at Southampton), but lost the third at Manchester City. Blissett, who
failed to score in those fixtures, got off the mark with a first-half penalty
in a 2-1 victory over Swansea in game four before following up with a brace in
a 3- win over West Brom four days later. And the three points gained took the
Hornets to the top of the table.
Two weeks later, Watford went goal-crazy against Sunderland,
whipping the Wearsiders 8-0 at Vicarage Road. Blissett was outstanding, scoring
four times and having a hand in another. The Hornets were leading through two
Nigel Callaghan goals before Blissett scored his first – slipping the ball
right-footed past Chris Turner from a long forward pass.
It was 4-0 at the
break (after Ross Jenkins had tapped in) and early in the second-half Blissett,
unmarked, rose to make it 5-0 with a towering header from Nigel Callaghan’s
inviting right-wing cross. Jenkins comfortably added a sixth before ‘Man of the
Match’ King Luther bounded in at the far post to bury Steve Terry’s high cross
for goal number seven, and following a throw-in near the right-hand corner
flag, he rounded off a superb display by nipping between two static defenders
to roll in goal number eight. It was great stuff ... but only 16,744 fans were
inside Vicarage Road to see the goal-spree.
In the next game, his first-half goal earned a point at
Birmingham (1-1), but he failed to hit the target against Norwich City (2-2),
Aston Villa (lost 3-0) and Coventry City (0-0) before scoring in a 3-2 defeat
at Notts County.
In November, Watford won all their four League games,
beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at White Hart Lane, Stoke City 1-0 and Brighton
4-1, both at home, and Arsenal by 4-2 in a thrilling contest at Highbury.
Blissett fired in two
penalties in the win over Brighton to bring his tally for the season to a healthy
twelve. Unfortunately, the Jamaican-born forward then went through a tough
period, failing to score in any of the next eight League games, four of which
ended in defeats, although he did win his first full England cap, celebrating
with a hat-trick in a 9-0 thumping of the hapless part-timers from Luxembourg
at Wembley.
Thankfully, he bounced back with his first club goal for two
months to seal a 2-0 home win over Southampton in late January, struck twice in
a 3-1 win at Swansea and netted his fourth goal in three games as Aston Villa
were beaten 2-1.
After another two blank outings, he whipped in his second
top-flight hat-trick in a 5-3 home win over Notts County in mid-March,
following up ten days later with two excellent finishes to see off Birmingham
City 2-1.
At this juncture, Liverpool were pulling clear at the top of
the table, but Watford were bang on course to take second spot, and from their
last eight games Graham Taylor’s team accumulated thirteen points, ending with
a 3-1 home victory over the champions from Anfield.
Blissett scored seven goals in those last eight matches –
two in a 4-1 win over Luton, wellstruck penalties against Nottingham Forest
(lost 3-1) and Arsenal (won 2-10, two more at Sunderland (2-2) and the winner
against Liverpool, for whom it was manager Bob Paisley’s last match.
There is no doubt that Blissett – who also netted six
‘other’ goals to finish with an overall total of thirty-three – and Watford had
an excellent season.
Having moved to the Italian giants AC Milan for £ million
in the summer of 1983, Blissett missed the 1984 FA Cup final defeat by Everton,
but he was back at Vicarage Road for the 184/85 season, re-signed for
£550,000, only to leave the Hornets again a third of the way through the 1985/86
campaign for AFC Bournemouth in a £60,000 deal. He then returned to boost the
Hornets once more in August 1991, recruited for £40,000. By now, though, he was
slowly on the way down – his legs weren’t quite so active, but he still managed
to pop in a few goals.
After a loan spell with West Bromwich Albion
(October–November 1992), he moved to Bury on a free transfer in August 1993 and
thereafter assisted Derry City in Ireland (on loan, September 1993), Mansfield
Town (free, December 1993), Southport (on loan, March–May Wimbourne Town
(briefly), Fakenham Town (as player-coach, August 1994, retiring as a player,
May 1995); Watford (assistant-manager/coach, February 1996), York City (coach,
May 2002–May 2003), Portsmouth (coach, seasons 2003/05) and finally Chesham
United (manager, February–April 2006).
He quit football to concentrate on his involvement with the
Windrush Motorsport project/Le Mans twenty-four-hour race, but surprisingly
returned with Hemel Hempstead Town (as a coach, March 2010).
As mentioned earlier, Blissett’s England career started
well, with three goals against Luxembourg in December 1982, becoming the first black
player to net for England at senior level, and also this remains the highest
score for a European Championship match. He went on to win fourteen caps, but
only started five times for his country. He also gained one B and four U23
caps. Unfortunately, his move to AC Milan coincided with a total draining of
confidence from the target-man and the tabloids nicknamed him ‘Luther Miss-it.’
But he put that behind him and went on playing – and scoring goals at top-class
level – for another decade. At club level, he scored almost 300 goals in close
on 700 appearances, 213 coming in 584 League games. He remains to this day
Watford’s all-time record appearance-maker and goalscorer.
No comments:
Post a Comment