Luther Blissett

Luther Loide Blissett OBE DL (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional footballer and manager who played for the England national football team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Blissett played as a forward, and is best known for his time at Watford, whom he helped win promotion from the Fourth Division to the First Division. Blissett set Watford's all-time records for appearances and goals, having played 503 games and scored 186 goals, and was the top goalscorer title in the 1982–83 Football League First Division as he led Watford to second-place. He was also one of the first black players to represent England. 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.

Blissett's other clubs included Milan, who paid £1 million for him in 1983 before selling him back to Watford for £550,000 in 1984, and Bournemouth, for whom he had a goals-to-games ratio of nearly one goal in every two appearances. After his disappointing season at Milan, he returned to Watford, where he remained until 1988, before moving to Bournemouth for the next three seasons, which were more successful. In 1991, he returned to Watford and the following year moved to West Bromwich Albion, where he played three games. He ended his professional career at the end of the 1993–94 season, playing for Bury in the Third Division, before continuing for a few years in the amateur divisions until his final retirement in 1996.

Although born in Jamaica, Blissett chose to represent England at international level, earning 14 caps and scoring three goals between 1982 and 1984. Blissett scored all of his goals on 15 December 1982 in a UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying match against Luxembourg, contributing a hat-trick to England's resounding 9–0 victory. After embarking on a coaching career, he was part of the Watford coaching staff from 1996 to 2001; he subsequently served As coach of several smaller English teams, including York City and Chesham United. In 2007, he founded a racing team, Team 48 Motorsport. Since the mid-1990s, "Luther Blissett" has frequently been used as a pseudonym, most notably by members of the Luther Blissett Project.