Toke Theilade joined Tuesday's Off the Ball to discuss the interesting history of Russian side Spartak Moscow.
Unlike its city rivals, Spartak has no ties to Russian governmental institutions and is viewed as the people's club in the country.
"Spartak Moscow was really the odd man out," Theilade told Joe Molloy, adding: "It was famous because they didn't really have any official ties to the government. In the Soviet Union, it's important to know that all the football clubs are football societies really because Spartak is much more than Spartak Moscow Football Club.
"It's also basketball and all these kinds of sports and it's not only in Moscow - it's actually Spartak sporting society spread across the entire Soviet Union but we have Spartaks in all kinds of different cities and it's a huge network.
"But, of course, Spartak Moscow is a football club and it's the crown jewel of the whole society.
Spartak's Fernando (11) celebrates with team mates after scoring his side's opening goal against Liverpool. Picture by: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/Press Association Images
"And as you said, it wasn't connected to the state - it was independent. It was funded, for most of the time, by the independent trade organisation and yeah, that's why they're named 'the people's club' because it stood outside of the establishment.
"There's a good story from CSKA and Dinamo - they had really strict ideology at the clubs. The players had to learn all about Soviet history, about revolution, about communism and at Spartak - they didn't really bother too much about those things.
"So the club was often reprimanded about the players not having enough knowledge about communism and about the ideology of the party when they went to the national team because the club didn't really bother with those things," he added.
The full interview can be heard here:
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