start that owner Lee Stern had anticipated when he brought in Clive Toye as new club president who in turn had hired Malcolm Musgrove as the team's new head coach. Toye had been one of the men behind the success of the NASL's leading light the New York Cosmos, while Musgrove, a former left-winger with West Ham United was a coach with a growing reputation. Musgrove had made expensive forays into the transfer market bringing in four new players in the shape of Karl-Heinz Granitza (from Hertha Berlin), Arno Steffenhagen (from FC St. Pauli), Horst Blankenburg (who had played in the great Ajax side of the early 1970s alongside Johan Cruyff, and company) and Jørgen Kristensen (another former Hertha Berlin man). Swift action was needed and out went Musgrove as Willy Roy was recalled as coach. The effect was immediate – ten wins were recorded in the last fourteen regular season games – and the Sting moved up from last place to second place in the Central Division to win a playoff berth. Although eliminated from the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Rowdies the Sting (or Der Sting as they would later become known with the shift from British staff to German) won plaudits around the league for their attacking style of play scoring thirty-eight goals in those final fourteen games. Willy Roy appointed coach, On the brink 1979: At the end of the 1978 NASL season Willy Roy was appointed head coach. The Sting were on their way to becoming one of the best sides in the league and to ensure continued success Roy brought in four new players who would all play their part in the franchises best season yet: Wim van Hanegem arrived from Dutch side AZ, Luigi Martini from SS Lazio, Thomas Sjoberg from Malmö FF along with former Feyenoord man Peter Ressel. All number of club records were broken as the Sting scored 70 goals – Karl-Heinz Granitza weighing in with 20 – and the average home attendance increased to a respectable 8,000, 21,000 plus turning out at Wrigley Field to see the New York Cosmos defeated 3–1. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were beaten in the first round of the playoffs (the Sting winning the best of three series by two wins to none) but the San Diego Sockers proved to be too strong for Chicago and booked a place in the American Conference Finals