Spartak epic hits the shelves

By Pavle Gognidze

When a football club is going through hard times, there is often much solace to be found in looking back.

Authoritative tome
Reminiscing has been made a whole lot easier for fans of FC Spartak Moskva, who are not enjoying the best of seasons, after the release of possibly the most authoritative club encyclopaedia ever seen. The weighty 872-page tome was released in time for the club’s 80th anniversary and to mark 100 years since the birth of Nikolai Starostin, Spartak’s founder who led the club until the very last days of his life.

'Bible of Spartak'
The book contains numerous articles, historic facts and details of Spartak greats and has been quickly dubbed by the club's fans as the 'Bible of Spartak'. The encyclopaedia also publishes, for the first time, statistical information about more than 7,000 official and friendly games played not only by the Spartak first team but also the reserves. There is also a Hall of Fame section, which focuses on legendary players and coaches from all generations.

Numerous photographs
The book also contains biographies and photographs of 450 players who were regular starters for Spartak over the years. The authors have also managed to find and recover around 1,300 photographs from state and private archives, most of which are published for the first time in the volume.

Many years of effort
The authors feel they have achieved something unique with the book. "I am incredibly happy that this effort, which involved many years and many people, has come to reality," said the book's chief editor Eduard Nisenboim. "Unfortunately foreign supporters or other football fans across Europe will not be able to read it in English for the moment."

'A great gift'
Andrey Chervichenko, who recently took charge as Spartak's new president, paid tribute to the project. "There is no future without the past," he said. "That is why I am happy our fans have received such a great gift. It is also incredible to see the tears in the eyes of our veteran players, whose achievements are described in this book."

Glittering history
Spartak have enjoyed a glittering history, having won 12 Soviet championships, nine Russian titles, ten Soviet Cups and two Russian Cups. However, this season their dominance in Russia is under threat, as they trail FC Lokomotiv Moskva by four points having also played two games more than their rivals.