Luther Blissett - Jubilee Honours List

I feel really lucky. Luther and Ross Jenkins were literally my first heroes. They were awesome up front together. Wonderful wonderful memories.

 

When I was about 6 and my brother was 9 we had an assembly at school about 'who do you want to be when you grow up?'

He said JB and I said Luther. Looking back as two middle class white boys they might seem like weird role models, but on the other hand, exactly not. Couldn't have picked it better.

I'd be proud to be 1/10 the man that Luther is. An absolute credit to our club, our town, our country. So glad my kids met him this season and already idolise him. Great role model for the next generation.

 

The club have invited Luther to be its 3rd ever Honarary Life-President of Watford FC.

https://www.watfordfc.com/news/club...-to-become-watford-fc-honorary-life-president

 

Do you think it’s a little odd that they’ve issued this public invitation rather than announced his appointment? Or am I reading too much into it.

 

It’s been a long time coming, and it’s easy to be a little cynical over why they are doing this now, however, it’s richly deserved and a brilliant gesture for a brilliant guy.

Hopefully all the issues (whatever they were) are now resolved and Luther can be a voice from within. Seems like they are keen on that with allowing him to meet with Edwards and maybe to be a familiar face around the place.

It’s such an easy win for the club and will go a long way to unite the fans as he truly is a trusted character.

 

I think we should just credit the club here .... it explains why he wasn't invited to be an ambassador - obviously discussions have been ongoing for some time - Well done Watford and Well done Luther, richly deserved

 

I would like to see the Rookery renamed to the Luther Blissett Stand in the future.

 

Keith Eddy became the first ambassador in 2020, I doubt discussions have taken that long. My guess is the club reached out to him after they insulted him in the Andre Gray interview last year.

 

He was so insulted he said "yes" to being honorary life president, apparently.

 

Luther speaks. Good on him for not being pressured into accepting it by the shady characters running our club.

 

Oh dear.

Always felt off to me how it was announced as an ‘offer’ rather than an acceptance of the role.

 

This is really sad to hear on the eve of the new season, and as alluded to by others up thread I'm very disappointed that the club announced the role before Luther had actually accepted it.

As far as I can tell from his Twitter he hasn't detailed the precise reasons for not accepting the invitation. I could have a reasonable guess, but has he articulated his specific concerns anywhere?

At least it sounds like he would accept it if certain changes were made to his liking.

 

Sounds like the club are doing things that Luther doesn't want to be a part of. I can see why he hasn't accepted if the club just want him to be a face they can plaster everywhere to get the fans onside, without having his voice heard.

 

It’s all very odd. We’ve got Elton promising to get more involved once his tour ends but Luther not wanting to know. It’s a bit of a contradiction. If the owner/board are as bad as Luther is implying then surely EJ would have nothing to do with them either?

Timing could have been better on the day of the first match of the season. Seems to be a pointed dig for maximum effect.

I hope the elite supporters, who are elected to the fans forums, get to the bottom of what’s going on and let us riffraff know what’s going on.

 

The COGs replying to his tweet criticising him for not getting behind Poxbury are beyond belief

What an embarrassing fanbase we have

 

Maybe Elton wants to get involved so he can change things behind the scenes? I'm sure he doesn't mind ruffling a few feathers. Luther might not be given that opportunity.

 

Agreed. Seemed very cynical and manipulative - both a way to get good PR for themselves and pressure Luther into saying yes by making it public. Horrible incompetent people.

 

I agree. Its only guess work of course but EJ is only seeing things at a high/Executive level whereas LB is more grounded. Maybe there are strings attached to his role -NDA? if he is going to be "involved" whereas maybe the role is no more than a face as @RS2 suggests. Like many on here and as some players have already said there needs to be evidence of a change in culture not promises and that can only take time.

I hope that Luther can feel he can accept the role at some point during the season as that should be evidence to us all that things are changing -and in my eyes that's not just whether we are near the top but playing with some f*****g passion.

 

Some of them are astonishingly dense.

 

First response from a notorious COG:

So it’s the owners right to determine the culture of the football club but Luther should give up all leverage and accept this transparent PR position in order to ‘inject views’ that the owner just ignores?

No wonder so many of these types didn’t initially see the issue with the fans politburo initiative. They fundamentally don’t see the difference between the club itself and whoever the current owner happens to be. They also seem to genuinely believe that the Poxburys going through the pretence of ‘fan engagement’ is enough, even if there is never any intention or expectation of any of that engagement changing their way of operating

Edit - Luther’s follow up response sums it up perfectly:

It’s no wonder our owners get away with so much when even some of our most vocal fans are bought off which cheap and meaningless PR

edit 2 - of course Luther’s response is then met by another bootlicker:

I’m honestly embarrassed to be part of the same fanbase as these clowns. If they’d have been on Titanic they’d have been chastising people for getting on lifeboats instead of supporting the crew - “the timing is so unhelpful, on the day of our maiden voyage!”

 

Good on you Luther. Lots of fans are behind you - ignore some of the Twitter responses.

 

The man is the living embodiment of GT's legacy. He looked up yo GT as a father.

It's clear that the window dressing of naming a stand here and there has nothing to do with GT's legacy and I'm glad Luther sees it.



Sent from my SM-S908B using Tapatalk

 

I'm all for interaction between footballers and fans but who the hell do these people think they are? The culture issues are there for all to see, Luther doesn't owe you an explanation.

 

It's clear. Luther hates Elton.
In all seriousness, it would be useful to know what Luther wants changed before he accepts the position. Sad that he doesn't feel he can accept yet but bloody stupid of the club to heap on the pressure by announcing they'd offered him the position before checking with him. Wonder if they knew he might decline but wanted the world to know they had offered ?

 

Check this whopper out….

 

This is a worrying development more than all the idle speculation that goes on on this forum. Luther is not only a club legend but a man of great integrity . He clearly has some knowledge of what is going on.

I guess he’s maintaining a dignified silence , but I would like to know what it is specifically that Luther disagrees with , so would be good if he spoke out .

Also agree it’s a bit embarrassing from
The fans who are openly criticising him as he clearly has and always will have the best interests of the club at heart. Hopefully they can work it out though as I do agree that having him as part of the club ? Even if only having a small influence can only be a good thing .

 

"But Luther, why can't you just chop your balls off and put them in a jar on Gino's desk? This is very disappointing!"

 

Dear lord. I hope he's thoroughly embarrassed when he reads that back. What a melt.

 

This club is a disgrace. A simple request denied, showing that Luther is purely there so they can score some points with the fans.

 

@Burnsy is too quick for me

 

What a perfect way to yet again demonstrate the immoral, manipulative ethos running through our club. They really think they can just back Luther into a corner and force him to bend the knee?

They have no respect and no shame

 

Andrew French has published some great interviews and articles and the club has made a genuine attempt to improve communications with supporters. However, I think that it is worthwhile to re-post part of my comment relating to the reporting by Adam Levanthal and Andrew French in the 'Transfer Talk & Suggestions thread', which does seem relevant to Luther's quote and his later tweet.

Some recent comments by Scott Duxbury (which implicitly criticized reports by Leventhal without mentioning him by name) do make me wonder whether the club is trying to use Andrew French in an attempt to control the narrative. For example, I do remember reading in May (possibly from Leventhal in the Athletic) that Kiko Femenia had asked to return to Spain because his family had moved back and his children were in school there. That report does seem to partially contradict what Duxbury said recently to Andrew French (link below).

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/20589290.watford-ready-planned-ahead-defender-deals/

Am I being too cynical in thinking that the club is attempting to shape the message which the hierarchy want to put out? Luther's tweets seem to confirm that impression.