Sheer Bliss

RARELY, if ever, during York City's 80-year history can the Minstermen have counted a top-flight record goalscorer and ex-England striker among their brethren.

Particularly, one who smashed a hat-trick on his full international debut, once played for the mighty AC Milan and whose skills brought him to the attention of the Pope no less.

But City fans have more in common with new coach Luther Blissett than they perhaps realise.

For ask any Minstermen supporter to name their best moment of the last ten years and no doubt putting Manchester United to the sword at Old Trafford, a Cup giant-killing act that sent shock-waves throughout football, will spring to mind.

The same goes for Blissett too.

However, Blissett's memorable memory dates back to the end of the 1970s, when taking his first tentative steps in the game as a young striker with Watford.

Like City in 1995, Watford in 1978 were in the old Division Three when they went to Old Trafford and produced one of the League Cup's biggest-ever shocks in beating United 2-1.

Leaving Red Devils red-faced aside, Blissett, who scored both goals against United, sees many other parallels between City now and Watford then - at least in terms of where Watford went and where City want to go.

That defeat of United saw Watford go on to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup in 1979 and in the same season win promotion to the Second Division.

It was a remarkable ascent, especially given the fact Watford were in the basement division just a year earlier and struggling.

But in 1978 a flamboyant young chairman, rock star Elton John, took over at Vicarage Road and the rest, as they say, is history.

Off the pitch, the Hornets became an integral part of the community rather than just an extension of it, becoming one of the first clubs to have a Family Stand.

On the pitch by 1983 Watford were finishing second to the then mighty Liverpool in the old First Division and Blissett was the league's top marksmen.

The next season, Blissett was heading to Milan and Watford were in Europe and later at Wembley competing in an FA Cup final.

Such personalities and events seem far removed from York City.

But Blissett is adamant City can learn from the Watford blueprint.

He explained: "At the time, nobody had really achieved what Watford did.

"The club came from nowhere.

"I remember driving in from where I lived to go training in the mornings and I remember you never used to see a Watford scarf.

"But after the first two or three years you would see Watford scarves hanging out of vans and cars.

"The club was everywhere. It started to grow and people started to believe in it.

"We want to achieve that here. It takes time, but it's all about building something and watching it grow.

"We are giving the football club a really strong base because it needs a firm foundation for it to go anywhere.

"The chairman does his stuff off the pitch and we are trying to do it on the playing side, getting in a core of players that have a good understanding of what we want and who really want to play for York City."

Blissett is in no doubt as to where the foundations for the Hornets' rise and rise lay.

"The success at Watford was due to strong leadership, that was the biggest thing," insisted the 44-year-old.

"Any organisation needs direction and if someone is leading that gives you a better chance of success.

"Graham Taylor had all the support of the board and Elton John - whatever he wanted got done. They backed him 100 per cent."

According to Blissett, both John Batchelor and Elton John have similar showmen tendencies.

"They both see the game as more than just football.

"Elton John was involved in the entertainment business and he saw it from the showman side of things.

"Graham Taylor was a calming influence and set about getting the football right first and foremost.

"York City is in a position where we have to get the profile of the club raised first.

"John has been working very hard on that off the field. Now it is up to us to get things right on the pitch."

A few eyebrows were raised when Blissett's arrival at Bootham Crescent was announced - more than a few fans suggesting in hushed whispers he was a manager in waiting should things go badly.

But Blissett insisted the relationship between him, Dolan and coach Adie Shaw was working well as underscored by Dolan this week winning the August manager of the month award.

"I'm really enjoying it here and the players have been very receptive.

The staff have been great to me and settling in has been easy," he explained.

"Terry is the manager, Adie is the assistant manager and I'm here to coach.

"Terry sets the agenda and in light of that between Adie and myself we decide what we should be working on.

"We do the coaching and Terry oversees everything, although he may take certain parts of sessions and we work it that way."

Blissett won't admit it, but aside from the challenge of helping turn the fortunes of York City around, you sense he has a few points to prove to people in the game.

He was reserve team manager under Graham Taylor at Watford, and a successful one too - just missing out on the reserve team Premier League South title.

But when Taylor departed Vicarage Road, Gianluca Vialli's arrival saw Blissett shown the door.

Last season he still kept involved in the game, compiling scouting reports for clubs and also going to watch games just to keep his 'finger-in', so to speak.

But Blissett was desperate for an opportunity to get back out on the training field.

"I always wanted to get back into the game, and ideally by staying in the League.

"But if it meant dropping into the Conference I would have done that.

"I'd applied for several jobs but you got the usual response when they asked if I'd managed a club before and I had to say 'no'.

"I'd played in excess of 500-600 games, played at every level, represented my country and worked for some of the best managers in the game and people were questioning my ability to do a job that I have been involved in since I was 15.

"I have always been fully aware of my capabilities and if I was not able to do the job there is no way someone like Graham Taylor would give you free rein to run his reserve team.

"It was hard to take."

For now though, Blissett prefers to look forward rather than back, anxious to make up for lost time.

"In anything I do I am ambitious and I always strive to be best that can be reached.

"If you fail then you fail a long way up the ladder rather than at the bottom.

"It may mean we only get to the Second Division or the First Division but ultimately our aim has got to be the Premier League.

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp - that's how it should be."

MILAN MEMORIES

"Milan was a big club at the time but they were still suffering the effects of a bribery scandal and didn't really have a team. Baresi was by far their best player at the club. He had a way about him and you knew he was going to be a great player."

ON GRAHAM TAYLOR

"He was a great organiser and I cannot think of anyone more professional than Graham Taylor. He had a meticulous attention to detail. Whoever we were playing, he thought and planned a strategy that would give us the best chance of winning."

FOOTBALLING PHILOSOPHY

"I don't have strict ideas as to how a team will line-up. You can't be rigid because games change very quickly and if you are not prepared to make alterations then you are lessening your chances of success. It is all about winning."

AMBITIONS

"Ultimately, I'd like to manage. In about ten years' time I'd like to be retiring from club management and thinking about going into international management. I know I'm not going to be an England manager, but I'd like to be a manager of a Caribbean team."

PROUDEST MOMENTS

"Making my full debut at 18 against Swansea and scoring; representing your country at under-21 level then at full level at Wembley; playing for Milan; scoring four on my home debut for Bournemouth; beating Sunderland 8-0 when I scored four."

Fact file:

Born: Jamaica, February 1, 1958

Clubs: Watford (three spells), AC Milan, Bournemouth, Bury

International honours: 14 England caps, three goals

Career Highlights

Appearance record for Watford: 503

Leading goalscorer for Watford: 186 goals

Until two years ago was Watford's most expensive signing: £550,000 when he rejoined them from AC Milan

First Division top scorer 1983: 27 goals

Updated: 12:21 Wednesday, September 04, 2002