Luther Blissett discusses the reasons why his move from Watford to AC Milan did not work out.
There are so many myths surrounding Luther Blissett and his season at AC Milan. Among the more ludicrous is the claim that the Italian giants had believed they were signing John Barnes instead. What people forget is that Blissett was at the top of his game at the time. The powerful striker had topped the goalscoring charts as Watford finished second in the league and he also netted a hat-trick on England debut.
But the subsequent move to Milan in 1983 was a difficult one as Blissett endured just one season at the San Siro - scoring five Serie A goals - before returning to Vicarage Road. Adam Bate caught up with the Hornets legend to get the real story behind his time with the Rossoneri - as well as the views of the man himself on the anarchic group that have taken his name.
How did the move to Milan come about?
Well, they made contact with Watford at the end of the season after we had finished second. They wanted to speak to me about a move to Milan. The first I heard of it was after an end-of-season tournament we played in Malaysia. Graham Taylor told me they'd had an enquiry.
Was it an easy decision to move?
No it wasn't. They initially bid £500,000 and Graham told them they'd have to pay £1million to speak to me, thinking that they'd refuse and I'd be staying at Watford. But they came back and offered the £1m. He then felt obliged to tell me and, after they'd upped the bid, I felt the least I could do was talk to them.
It was a very difficult decision. Regardless of the stature of the club and everything else, Watford was somewhere I was very happy at. We'd just had our best season and it felt like I was leaving at a time when things were just taking off there.
The gulf between the sides seems bigger now but at the time Watford were hugely successful and Milan were perhaps in a transition period?
Absolutely, yeah. If you look at the exploits that season and then how Watford did in the FA Cup, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. That was a good team that Watford team at the time.
You'd scored a hat-trick for England, Watford finished second and you'd been the first division top scorer... But it still must have been daunting walking into that dressing room?
Things like that never bothered me because, any club you go to for the first time, things like that are always going to be difficult. The problem for me was not being able to speak the language and not really knowing people at all. Going to a new club is a normal thing. But the added challenge was the language barrier and not really knowing what they were expecting from me. They were the most daunting things for me.
I just tried to look at things really simply. I'm going out there to play football and, while we may all play it slightly differently, it's the same game whatever country you might be in.
But a lot of players who move from England to Italy talk about the change in style being an issue. Was that even more of a challenge moving from a direct team like Watford?
You know what, it wasn't even a case of it being more so because of Watford. You just have look at football back then and how the Italians liked to play. I mean, you watch the game now and they play quite attractive, attacking football - the national team and the club teams play like that. At the time, the game was very, very defensive.
You have to remember, they played the sweeper system. It really
