After 46 years, Blissett still following GT's Watford way

In fact, 46 years ago today the pair met for the very first time – young striker Blissett following his Watford teammates in having an individual meeting with his almost equally young new manager.

Blissett was just 19, Taylor was 33.

It was a meeting that was the first handshake in what was to be decades of working together and enjoying extraordinary success.

However, on that June day, Blissett walked into the new gaffer’s office not knowing what to expect.

“First and foremost, I didn’t have a clue who he was!” Blissett laughed.

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“That first meeting was a very nervous situation for me, as a young lad going into the room to meet a stranger who would have a massive say on what my career might be.

“So I was walking in with an element of trepidation but he soon put me at ease. I’ve told the story before that I walked in, and Graham said: “Luther Blissett . . . Luther Blissett . . . Luther Blissett . . . with a name like that you’ve got be a star.” Some people might have taken that as a negative because it put some pressure on me, but it relaxed me. It was a ‘wow’ moment, that someone I had never met knew my name and had that belief to even mention that I was capable of achieving something.

“I found him very open and honest in that first meeting. He was somebody whose words you could trust.

“In that first meeting he didn’t set out plans, he just used it to get a feel of who each player was and what they had about them.

“He wasn’t after anything more than getting to know us, and understanding what we were like as people.”

Taylor was definitely someone that liked to talk, but he was also a good listener.

“He struck me as someone you could definitely talk to, not that I really did that at that time,” said Blissett.

A young Luther Blissett (Image: Action Images)

“As a 19-year-old I wasn’t going to have long conversations with the boss! I just wanted to keep my head down and do the best I could.

“He always approachable though, but as he was the boss there was always that slight hint of intimidation. But I think that was important, because as a young lad we saw how he handled the senior players and we learned from that.

“He dealt with the senior players very firmly and very strongly: ‘I’m the boss, you do as I say or there’s the door’.

“It was very clear, from day one, that Graham was going to take the club on a journey by doing it his way, and it you didn’t like that you could leave.”

After the initial meet and greet, what was the first training session like?

“Running. It was running, lots of running,” Blissett chuckled.

“His belief was the fitter you were, the more chance you had of being successful. So, that’s what he did.

“We turned up on the first day and we ran. And he told us that he was going to make us as fit and strong as we could be. And that’s pretty much what he did.

“Something we, as players, became aware of very early was that he was a manager who wanted to attack. We did a lot of running, but he always told us that football was a forward passing and forward running game. He wanted us to be positive.

“I embraced that, and the players worked out that we could be successful if we could be what the boss wanted us to be.

“I wasn’t the best runner or anything, so it was important I did my best at all of that and try to improve my ability to get through 90 minutes of football.”

As well as lots of running on the football pitch, players were also expected to don their whites and run on the cricket pitch as Taylor asserted his belief in making Watford a community and family club.

“We began playing cricket matches against local clubs and villages, and it was clear that all of us being in the thick of the community was very important to him,” said Blissett.

“As players it was something different for us, but we went ‘alright, let’s do it’. Early on we weren’t really sure what was coming our way, but we bought into it.

“In the beginning, it was a bit daunting but we got to embrace it over time. Once we started doing things in the community, we could see and feel the benefit of it. Talking to fans and engaging with them was important to the club. Graham always said that without supporters we might as well go and play Sunday football in the park.”

When Graham Taylor returned to Vicarage Road in 1996, he had Luther in the seat next to him. (Image: Action Images)

Taylor would have found recent examples of prominent players in the top flight walking past fans in hotel lobbies and next to team buses very disappointing.

“That was starting to happen in the latter part of his time in football, and happened a bit when we were in the Premier League,” admitted Blissett.

“Players were walking around with headphones on, saying they were getting mentally prepared for the games. Maybe some were listening to a bit of music, but it was also a way to ignore the fans.

“The boss didn’t think very highly of that at all. He told us regularly that the game of football was nothing without the people that pay to come and watch.

“Without fans, the game is not the same. You need them. Today there’s a feeling that players want to play football but try to avoid engaging with the people who pay to watch them.

“It doesn’t matter whether the supporters are the ones cheering, booing or giving you a bit of stick. They are supporters and without them you don’t have a club.”

One thing that Taylor had clear in his mind and his heart, was a philosophy – a word that was used regularly by the current owner Gino Pozzo at the recent fans’ forum.

“I think it’s quite important that the fans take in that word, philosophy. I don’t think people really took that on board when they looked back on the fans’ forum,” said Blissett.

“A philosophy is a deep-rooted belief. It’s not something that you write down on paper and hope that it’ll work. It has to be what you truly believe so you can then spread and share that philosophy.

“When you share that with the people you are working with, that enables them to buy into your philosophy.

“A strategy is different, it’s something you follow because someone has set it out. With a philosophy you have to understand it and embrace it properly in order to make it work.

“That’s what GT did at Watford. He shared his philosophy with us and we all bought into it. We had a lot of talent in the team but we knew our real strength was in the team itself, not in the individuals.

Luther with Watford fans at the Sir Elton John mural on the wall of Watford Library (Image: Watford Observer)

“So that word philosophy was said a lot at the forum, and I think people missed that or overlooked it at their peril.

“It was an essential part of what the club, the management and the ownership are all about.

“When Gino Pozzo talked about his philosophy, it gave me much greater perspective into what had gone on. All we’d ever heard was people saying ‘this is how they do things’ or ‘that’s their business model’.

“Once you understood that this was a philosophy that he truly believed in, that made him what he is, then I think people can start to understand how and why he feels the way he does.

“If you go back and read the things he said, people should have a completely different perspective on the fact that we change managers for example.

“If a manager didn’t fulfil the philosophy and didn’t buy into it, and get the players to buy into in, then he made a change.

“A prime example was when one of the club’s prime assets, Gerard Deulofeu, wasn’t playing enough. The owner said that when the club has a prime asset like that, he expects to see him on the pitch. He wants the best players on the pitch, helping to make the team and club successful.

“When he saw Deulofeu not playing and results weren’t quite coming, then the coach puts himself in a difficult position.”

What did that first meeting, 46 years ago, do for Blissett as a player and a person?

“It was someone coming into my life and giving me that total, 100% belief,” he said.

“His message was always ‘this is what you can achieve, if you follow what I need you to do’. He gave me the belief that I could get to where I wanted to be, and be the best person I could.

“He was so professional from the very start too. Having played in Italy in the 1980s and seen how professional football was there, I realised that we’d started doing that at Watford back in 1977.

“He always made it clear that if we wanted to go on the journey with him, you need to fall in line.

“That didn’t stop you being yourself at any time. All you had to do was follow his edict about what and when.

“He was happy for you to enjoy yourself, but he also then expected you to come in and work even harder the next day. You couldn’t enjoy yourself and not put it in at training – that wouldn’t work.

“We knew that when we were working, we were working. We looked after ourselves. We’d get home in the afternoon and relax, so you were prepared for the next day at training, or the next game.

“Most of the players bought into GT’s philosophy and that’s why we had the success we had. We all did the same things together.

“Graham would tell us what we needed to do, but also tell us that he would be working hard himself, right there with us. He told us he would be working hard, every day, for us.

“If he gave us the platform, we delivered on the pitch, then as a club we were making the supporters happy. It was a circle: work hard, get results, everybody is happy, work hard again, and so on.

“One of his greatest things was detail. He always said if you took care of the detail then the bigger things would look after themselves.”

Through his leadership of the Former Players’ Club, Blissett continues to live, breathe and share the GT philosophy today.

Fans at Vicarage Road always enjoy a chance to meet a legend. (Image: Action Images)

“The whole idea of the Former Players Club has always been, and always will be, to continue the legacy that Graham brought to Watford – as a town, as a club and as players.

“The fact that I try to carry that on is very important to me, and to the other former players.

“Ultimately, if we try and stick to the philosophy that Graham brought, then we won’t go far wrong.

“Nobody is 100% right all the time, and similarly people aren’t 100% wrong either. You have to find the middle ground so that you can co-exist and operate with the people around you.

“I found that when I was playing. You were surrounded by players with different abilities and if you recognise those various talents and deploy them in the right way, then success will come.

“The success I had personally, the success the team and the club had, came from working together and appreciating the role everybody else played.

“Take Pat Rice for example. Didn’t scream and shout but was very clear when he gave instructions and talked to you a lot. When we followed that, things were better, and so the players listened to Pat.

“We respected that, and we respected everything from the top down. GT was the boss overall, but his captain – Pat – was GT when we went out on the pitch, or on the training field.

“You need that leader. They don’t have to be the most vocal, but you knew they were the leader and you showed them respect.

“That’s what we’re trying to do today, we want the fans back on side with each other and hopefully the team can help with that on the pitch.

“If things work out the way we hope, then off the field we can do our bit to bring all the aspects of the club together again.”

It was significant that Blissett and fellow former player Ian Bolton attended the fans forum recently.

“The fact that we were both there is testimony to the fact the club are listening, and the dialogue is beginning to move in both directions,” he said.

“We’re beginning to move towards a point where ultimately the dialogue is the same right the way through the club and beyond into the community.

“It’s starting. A lot of the fans at the forum were dissenting voices, and I’ve always said you can’t have a room full of people who say they love you and pat you on the back. You’ll get nowhere like that.

“You need to hear from people who don’t agree with you, and can explain their reasons why.

“That was one of the reasons why I felt the Watford Observer had to be at the forum. The media tread that line between positive and negative in order to make things work.

“The Watford Observer has always reported – it has always tried hard not to allow personal feelings into things, other than when it is clearly offering an opinion.

“I think fans got why it was important to have the Watford Observer at the forum. A lot of fans have said that to me: they were glad I stuck my neck out because they felt media needed to be there.

“The Watford Observer was key. It’s been the voice of the fans, and the most important link between the fans and the club, for decades. Not everyone can go to games, not everyone lives locally. But the Watford Observer lets them read about games, hear what the manager and the players say, understand what is going on at the club.

“Obviously fans can share their own opinions and emotions, but it’s important to have the Watford Observer there to try and bring some balance between the positives and the negatives.”