youth academy and local amateur clubs. Fortunately for the club, the mid-1970s saw the emergence of a very talented generation of youngsters consisting mainly of Léonard Specht, Jean-Jacques Marx, René Deutschmann, Yves Ehrlacher, Albert Gemmrich, Roland Wagner and Joël Tanter. Along with goalkeeper Dominique Dropsy and captain Jacky Duguépéroux, these players formed the backbone of the team for the superb 1976–1980 period. During these four years, Racing won two championships (D2 in 1977 and D1 in 1979), reached very honourable league rankings the two other years (third in 1978, fifth in 1980) and had its best results ever in European play (UEFA Cup round of sixteen in 1979, European Cup quarter finals in 1980). The start of the 1976–77 season was nevertheless difficult. In November, after a defeat at Amiens, Racing called Elek Schwartz out of retirement to help and supervise the work of player-manager Heinz Schilcher. Schwartz was an important player of the 1930s team and had a renowned international coaching career behind him, especially with spells at the Netherlands national team and Benfica. Under his guidance, the team quickly improved, earning promotion to Division 1 and defeating Monaco for the Division 2 championship title, the first one in the club's history. After accomplishing his mission, Schwartz definitely retired and was replaced by Gilbert Gress. As a player, Gress had achieved iconic status with Racing supporters. A child of the Neudorf, he was a genial player with a strong personality, the first Frenchman to shine in the neighbouring Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart. His second return to Strasbourg, after a first comeback as a player, was greeted with enthusiasm and his charisma aroused a strong public interest for the team's performances, with attendance rates at an all-time high. The 1977–78 season saw the peculiar dominance of the two promoted sides with Monaco going on to win the championship and Strasbourg reaching an unexpected third place, the best ranking since 1936. Gress printed his mark on the team right away, insisting on the recruitment of experienced, hard-working players (Jacky Novi, Raymond Domenech, Francis Piasecki) instead of foreign stars and putting into practice innovative tactical ideas. A self-proclaimed admirer of Ajax's Total Football, Gress wanted all his players to both defend and attack and asked for great versatility. This was rather unusual in French football at that time. In most French clubs, defenders were told not to cross the midfield line and