Product Description

The true and remarkable story of the English double agent who ended up playing for Spartak Moscow. Like many working class children growing up in the war, the young Jim Riordan would fantasise his way out of his devastated surroundings with dreams of Wembley and FA Cup glory for his local team, Portsmouth FC. Spartak Moscow, the team he would end up playing for, wasn't even on his radar. Taught Russian and trained as a spy in the same institution that nurtured the likes of Alan Bennett and Michael Frayn, he was posted to Berlin as part of his National Service to listen in on Soviet military communiques. But, unbeknownst to his seniors, he began mixing with Russian servicemen, mostly through informal kick-abouts, and the passion of these idealistic young men would cultivate his interest in Russian culture, and especially communism, until it blossomed into a full-grown love affair. From the shambolic outfit that was the British Communist Party in the 1950s, to Cold War Moscow at its coldest, to his friendship with the Cambridge Five and meetings with Brezhnev and Gregarin, and his eventual debut in front of 50,000 Spartak fans at the Lenin Stadium, 'Comrade Jim' is the remarkable true story of the only Englishman to have played -- and survived -- Russian league football, told with grace, humour and lashings of vodka. An incredible journey of an ordinary man living through extraordinary times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28372 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'This charming book encompasses all those elements that help make a modern bestseller -- espionage, treachery, class warfare, politics, celebrity, drink, nostalgia and football.' Literary Review 'His book reads like a Boy's Own thriller and, if you don't follow any other advice I give you, pick this up in a good bookshop near you.' George Galloway, Scottish Daily Record 'Had this wonderful book been a work of fiction it may have been deemed too incredible for publication. It is a genre defying rollercoaster ride.' Sunday Tribune 'An extraordinary tale of cold war era football. This is a man who lived on history's front line, whose story shows what the 20th century's great political shifts meant to individuals.' Jonathan Wilson, FourFourTwo 'Best Book' 'This is a timely and engaging look back on a past that really is a foreign country.' Tom Davies, When Saturday Comes

Sunday Tribune
`Had this wonderful book been a work of fiction it may have been deemed too incredible for publication.'

About the Author
Jim Riordan has been a double bassist, hotel porter, railway clerk, barman, postman, unbreakable tea-set salesman, award-winning children's author, spy and footballer, and is now Professor Emeritus in Russian Studies at the University of Surrey. He lives in Portsmouth with his family.

Customer Reviews

Spartak? Really? Pffft...
Well, what can I say? I first came across his story in a "Guardian" article a couple of years ago. In that version, he played successive matches against Pakhtakor (2-2) and Kairat (1-1) in Moscow. He mentioned that he had to look up the Pakhtakor result as his memory was somewhat hazy. Spartak did indeed play Pakhtakor and Kairat in successive games (2-2 and 1-0) in April 1963; however, these games did not take place in Moscow but in Tashkent and Almaty. The Moscow matches against these sides took place in November (2-0 against Kairat, 4-4 against Pakhtakor (the last game of the season, played in front of just 3 thousand fans)).

Fast-forward 2 years, Riordan's book comes out and... his memory seems to come back! He goes into great detail describing the Pakhtakor match. June 1963. 2-0 down, Reingold scores twice (one a penalty) and the game finishes 2-2. Riordan tells us what goes through his mind during the match. A few weeks later he turns out against Kairat (1-0). He even comes across a brochure a few years ago that lists the line-up as 3-2-5 (let's let it pass as a pictorial representation of W-M) with Eordanov at centre-back. But all this is totally at odds with the events of the 1963 season (or any other season, for that matter)! Even the formation does not stand up to scrutiny as Spartak abandoned W-M during the 1962 season and were mostly using 4-2-4 by 1963 before a poor run of results at the start of that season caused them to revert to W-M for the match against Lokomotiv in June 1963 (with disastrous consequences!) After that Spartak switched to 4-3-3, which again contradicts Riordan's claims.

Finally, he claimes to have replace a "Valery Volkov" in the Spartak side (who was drunk). Who is this player? His name does not appear in any reference material and no older fans remember him!!!

In Russia, Riordan's claims were met with disbelief and ridicule as there is simply nothing to back them up. I could understand Riordan publishing his story, say, 20-30 years ago, when information did not travel so freely across the Iron Curtain but nowadays...

PS Reviews of this book appeared in two established football magazines - "Four Four Two" and "When Saturday Comes". Both reviewers admitted that they did not think it would be necessary to go and look for historical proof for his claims. I also noticed that in "Four Four Two" (168) Jim Riordan is credited with 2 games for Spartak Moscow in the "Brits Abroad" feature. Then I read an frankly inane interview with him in issue 169 where he reiterates his claims. I am completely mystified as to why no one has actually bothered to check whether his story actually survives the most basic of tests - the 1963 Soviet League fixture list.

Wishful thinking at best...
I was electrified when i just noticed this book and immediately scooped it.
The story seemed so interesting that I couldn't sit still until i passed the book to my English teacher, who was in football business those days (never a pro himself but was through youth squads of 50-s/60-s and therefore retained many connections with the guys who actually made it into the first teams of Moscow based Soviet Premiership clubs). Of course he was an avid football fan and a staunch supporter of preciesely Spartak Moscow.
His immediate reaction after reading this opus was bewilderment. He never encountered any Riordan or Jordanov playing in starting XI or coming in as sub. Moreover factual errors were of extraordinary brazen character. Like pointed out in another review the man confused the venue at which the game took place: Tashkent (now in Uzbekistan) for Moscow which are 1 700 miles apart (according to Google Earth), let alone climatic and geographical differences which are still evident even to a blindman.
This and other glaring inconsistencies forced him to give a call to pro players, then active, and ask for clarification. No one could remember such player. And to conceal such a player would be harder than hide the proverbial needle in a haystack. Just so you know: there were few players of foreign origin (f.e. Spaniards - kids of Spanish Reds - evacuated in the wake of the Spanish Civil War to USSR) in Soviet Championship those years. And everyone remembers their presence nowadays albeit not always their names.
And no one even remebers a Briton, if you don't trust official statistics. Sorry. Nothing personal. But please don't sell a fiction for a real story.
If he was a real player it would be trumpeted all over as triumph of Communist sport's attractiveness over "sweat-extracting" professional sport of "rotting West".

Where are all the original reviews? (including my uncomplimentary one)
Why were they taken down? Was this done before or after I wrote to the publisher in early December? I will post my original comment once again (sent to the publisher, receiving no response):

"Well, what can I say? I first came across his story in a "Guardian"
article a couple of years ago. In that version, he played successive
matches against Pakhtakor (2-2) and Kairat (1-1) in Moscow. He mentioned
that he had to look up the Pakhtakor result as his memory was somewhat
hazy. Spartak did indeed play Pakhtakor and Kairat in successive games
(2-2 and 1-0) in April 1963; however, these games did not take place in
Moscow but in Tashkent and Almaty. The Moscow matches against these
sides took place in November (2-0 against Kairat, 4-4 against Pakhtakor
(the last game of the season, played in front of just 3 thousand fans)).


Fast-forward 2 years, Riordan's book comes out and... his memory seems
to come back! He goes into great detail describing the Pakhtakor match.
June 1963. 2-0 down, Reingold scores twice (one a penalty) and the game
finishes 2-2. Riordan tells us what goes through his mind during the
match. A few weeks later he turns out against Kairat (1-0). He even
comes across a brochure a few years ago that lists the line-up as 3-2-5
(let's let it pass as a pictorial representation of W-M) with Eordanov
at centre-back. But all this is totally at odds with the events of the
1963 season (or any other season, for that matter)! Even the formation
does not stand up to scrutiny as Spartak abandoned W-M during the 1962
season and were mostly using 4-2-4 by 1963 before a poor run of results
at the start of that season caused them to revert to W-M for the match
against Lokomotiv in June 1963 (with disastrous consequences!) After
that Spartak switched to 4-3-3, which again contradicts Riordan's
claims.

Finally, he claimes to have replace a "Valery Volkov" in the Spartak
side (who was drunk). Who is this player? His name does not appear in
any reference material and no older fans remember him!!!

In Russia, Riordan's claims were met with disbelief and ridicule as
there is simply nothing to back them up. I could understand Riordan
publishing his story, say, 20-30 years ago, when information did not
travel so freely across the Iron Curtain but nowadays...

PS Reviews of this book appeared in two established football magazines -
"Four Four Two" and "When Saturday Comes". Both reviewers admitted that
they did not think it would be necessary to go and look for historical
proof for his claims (as presumably it's something for the publisher to do). I also noticed that in "Four Four Two" (168) Jim
Riordan is credited with 2 games for Spartak Moscow in the "Brits
Abroad" feature. Then I read an frankly inane interview with him in
issue 169 where he reiterates his claims. I am completely mystified as
to why no one has actually bothered to check whether his story actually
survives the most basic of tests - the 1963 Soviet League fixture list."