Comrade Jim: The Spy Who Played for Spartak - Softcover

Jim Riordan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007251157 ISBN 13: 9780007251155

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2009

Synopsis

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 communiqués. 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.

About this title

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

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

This is a timely and engaging look back on a past that really is a foreign country. --Tom Davies, When Saturday Comes

From the Back Cover:

Like many working class children growing up in the war, Jim Riordan would dream of 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 alongside Alan Bennett and Dennis Potter, he was posted to Berlin on National Service to listen in on the Soviets. Secretly mixing with Russian servicemen through informal kick-abouts – the passion of these idealistic young men would cultivate his interest in communism and Russian culture, which blossomed into a fully grown love affair.

From Cold War Moscow at its coldest, through to his footballing debut in front of 50,000 people, ‘Comrade Jim’ tells the humourous and remarkable true story of the only Englishman to have played – and survived – Russian league football.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007251157
• ISBN 13: 9780007251155
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 223