Collapsed at a fund raising event at the weekend. Fingers crossed for a full recovery https://metro.co.uk/2024/11/21/watf...-blissett-collapses-charity-auction-22041009/
I reckon for many of us of a certain age, Luther is probably our favourite-ever player. For me personally, and by a country mile, he is mine. Bumping into him on the concourse on the Rookery at half-time during the FA Cup QF against Burnley was something else. Get well soon, Legend!!!
Yes this makes sense given where he ended up, and the standard hospital referral routes from Watford General given Watford doesn't have that specialism. Hopefully just a minor bleed and they caught it quickly.
Yes he's up there with my favourite player of all time probably on a level with Cliff Holton and Duncan Welbourne. Showing my age! Hope Luther's back on his feet soon.
Absolutely. From Div 4 reserve, by no means certain to make it as a pro, to full England international and top Div 1 scorer, and an all round fantastic guy. A real shame he missed the Everton cup final having his season in Italy.
Yes Luther has to be the best, didn't ask to go to Italy, but to go from Division 4 to leading scorer in the top division is some achievement. I saw his debut as a sub and heard Mike Keen shouting at him to move down the line. Along with Elton and G.T. he makes up a third of what makes Watford FC, our Club!
An absolute legend of the club and I wish him a speedy but careful recovery. Luther has had his moments in the media over the past few years, but at the heart of it he is one of ours and his bond and commitment to the club post playing has been a beautiful thing to see. Only other player on his sort of level (imho) is Tony Coton. All of us are with you Luther. Xx
When I recall the disgusting racist stick he used to receive when he first started playing (including from many of our fans in those days), it is a great testament to his dignity and decency the way he rose above it all. And his response to all the 'established tabloid' jibes like 'Luther Mis-Hit'? To simply keep getting into those positions so he could continue scoring over many seasons. It was a good time for sporting heroes in the late '70s & early '80s, what with Ian Botham winning matches on his own at times.
I’d seriously question the assertion that he was racially abused by many Watford fans. I must have seen at least 75% of his games but can’t recall a single instance.
Well I’m only stating what I heard with my own ears, especially when he first starting appearing, usually as a wide-playing winger. There were numerous comments about how you couldn’t expect ‘blacks/darkies’ to perform in the cold on muddy pitches. Even some of the more supportive comments were tinged with racism; ‘if you score today, Luther, we’ll buy you a barrow load of Bounties’ was regularly heard on the supporters’ club coaches. I don’t think I ever heard the n…..word from Watford fans; that was the remit of opposing fans, but there most definitely was casual racist criticism of him from amongst our own fans. Maybe the ‘many’ should be attributed to the people that used to stand near me or travel on coaches to away games; I can understand your experience being different. Whatever; he rose above any/all of it with the utmost dignity, which is one of the many reasons he is such a hero to many.
I've only just seen this. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse... I think I genuinely loved Luther when I was a kid. Get well, Luther - you are quite simply one of the finest men in the world
That’s racism rather than racial abuse, surely? Racial abuse would be doing that in such a way that the player heard it. Neither are acceptable of course but the former was, regrettably, very prevalent in the 70s/80s, not just in football of course.
A lot of the ‘darkies/blacks can’t perform over here’ would have been very audible to the players…in those days people would be able to stand right up against the pitch surround railings and there was not much general crowd noise in the context of uncovered terracing and attendances of 7k if you were lucky.
One of my favourite moments in football. John McClelland, captain and current Player of the Season who had recently played for The Rest of the World against England, was bringing the ball out of defence when he was tackled from behind by a Bournemouth player and the ref blew for a foul. Did the home fans shout "You black *******"? No. "Watford reject"? No. It was "LUTHER! LUTHER", recognising that he was giving 100% as always.
When Luther scored at Rochdale a Watford fan yelled, "I don't care how many goals you score, I don't want you living next door to me." Another Watford fan then yelled, "Why would he want to live in a council flat?" Everyone else then laughed.
