This book is about the hardest and most frightening time for the country’s most beloved football club. It’s both a cry from the heart of a true fan and the result of a journalist’s painstaking work — work that was even more bitter the uglier the truth about the legendary team became. A truth that a real journalist has no right to turn away from. This book is about how a young heir to the spirit and thoughts of the great brothers Starostins, a democratic coach, gradually turned into a dictator and, in the end, got lost in the world of his own illusions. It’s about how the people’s team became a commodity — bought and sold; about how the recent flagship of Russian football slowly but surely sank into the depths of financial machinations and organizational chaos, almost turning from FC “Spartak” into FC “Scandal.”
Year of publication: 2006