current second tier were required to finish eighth to remain in the second level; Cercle ended in 15th place that season, leaving them even further away from the top flight. Cercle remained in this third tier until 1956, when they won their league. They spent the next season once again battling relegation, this time with more success, though their second season back in the second tier went less well. The club secured only nine points in the season's first half, avoiding relegation only with a win under coach Louis Versyp in the season's last match. A few weeks later Versyp was replaced by the Frenchman Edmond Delfour. This replacement inaugurated a more successful new era at Cercle who, under Delfour's command, missed promotion only barely in 1960 and returned at last to the top flight in 1961. Short resurrection (1961–1965) Cercle had taken 15 years to return to the highest division, and remained there for only five more. They scarcely escaped relegation in their first season back at the top level, thanks only to a successful proposition by Antwerp that changed the way teams with equal points were ordered in the league. Until this season, where two teams had the same number of points the one with fewer defeats was ranked higher; under Antwerp's scheme, the team with the greater number of victories placed higher. Thanks to the changed rule Cercle finished ahead of Thor Waterschei, who would have placed above them under the previous rule. Ironically, Antwerp became victims of their own proposal: Standard obtained the second place, with Antwerp having equal points but fewer victories (but also fewer defeats). Barren years and the five-year-plan (1965–1971) This spell in the top division saw Cercle enjoy little success, and in 1965–66 they finished last behind Berchem. Worse, the team was accused of corruption by Lierse player Bogaerts, who said Cercle's vice-president Paul Lantsoght had engaged in bribery. The Belgian football association sentenced Cercle to relegation from the second division to the third. Lantsoght launched a lawsuit against the KBVB, which he won in June 1967, but the damage was done: Cercle remained in the third division, losing many of their players, and were not able to achieve promotion immediately. In 1967, Cercle appointed Urbain Braems as head coach. Braems designed an ambitious plan to restore Cercle to the top division within five years. During Braem's first season the club competed