BSC Young Boys in 1964 and is still the most successful coach in the history of the club. 1964–1984: Descent to a normal club The successor to Albert Sing had large shoes to fill; average performance was no longer acceptable to the discriminating Bernese supporters. Heinz Bigler and Hans Grütter took over the training until Hans Merkle ultimately succeeded Sing. Merkle had the misfortune to be measured against the championships of his predecessor. Although Geni Meier, Ernst Wechselberger and other players from the championship years continued to play, it mattered little. Merkle was a hard coach of the German school, however, and was able to keep YB in the top half of the table, with finishes of second, fifth, and seventh. The mixture of old and young players did not provide the results the Bernese sought, however. Otto Messerli, then a junior in the first team squad who in later years would be captain of the Young Boys, described the situation: "There were many good ideas, but FC Basel and FC Zürich remained unattainable for us." This was also no different for the Merkle successors Skiba, Schneiter und Eich, Brülls, Peters and Linder: The Young Boys reached big games on occasion (such as the Cup final against Basel that brought 52,000 spectators to the Wankdorf), but over the long term their performance was unspectacular. Still, some YB players rose to national recognition. The Dutchman Bert Theunissen replaced Meier and Wechselberger in 1964 as "gunner" and he became Swiss scoring champion before he left YB. A good replacement for him was found, however: the Bernese bought Dieter Brenninger from Bayern Munich. Another new transfer, Walter "Wale" Mueller, played between 1967 and 1972 for YB, and was a dreaded striker for opposing defenders. In the late 1960s and '70s, the Bernese met with little success. As YB were runners-up in the 1974–75 season, they finally returned to European competition. In the first round of the UEFA Cup, the club faced Hamburger SV once again. In the first leg before 17,000 spectators in the Wankdorf, the two teams played to a 0–0 draw. HSV won at home in its Volksparkstadion (4–2), and Young Boys were bounced from the competition early. The Young Boys' side for these games included Jakob Brechbühl and Karl Odermatt among others. It took until 1977 before YB would again win a title. Under coach Kurt Linder, the Cup was