to it becoming a winter league (playing autumn-spring). The league for that season was therefore shorter, with teams playing a total of 13 games, 12 in a mini league, and once in a playoff game to formalise the final standings. Over these years where Lechia struggled, some of the players who were important in the clubs rise during the early and mid 1950's started to move away or retire. Henryk Gronowski initially left in 1961, but later returned over the summer in 1963, his brother, and one of Lechia's most important forwards for Lechia during this era, Robert Gronowski, left in 1960, the ever present defenders Hubert Kusz and Czesław Lenc left in 1960 and 1962, and Roman Rogocz, who scored more than 100 goals for Lechia during his 15-year career at the club, retired in 1962. Each of these players made more than 100 appearances in the I liga for Lechia, leaving Lechia without the quality and experience these players provided. This loss of quality was evident during the 1962-63 season which ended up being a difficult one for Lechia. In the 26 games that season, they only managed to win 6, drawing 3, with the side losing 17, scoring only 20 goals, and conceding 48. This caused the team to finish second from bottom, being 4 points from safety, and were relegated from the Ekstraklasa with Lech Poznań, ending their 9 season long spell of continuous top division football. Decline and fall to the third division (1963–1971) While some of Lechia's important players remained at the club after their relegation, including long serving players such as; Bogdan Adamczyk, Jerzy Apolewicz, Janusz Charczuk, Roman Korynt, Czesław Nowicki, Zbigniew Żemojtel, and the return of Henryk Gronowski after the clubs relegation, the squad struggled to adapt to falling down a division. That season Lechia lost more games than they managed to win, and were only able to secure a 10th-placed finish out of 16 teams. Lechia did adapt to the new division better than Lech Poznań however who suffered back to back relegations, showing the rise in competitiveness since the last time Lechia were in the II liga. From their second season Lechia had adapted to the league and increased their competitiveness, finding themselves in 7th for the 1964–65 season. This season saw Lechia playing Arka Gdynia for the first time, with the two clubs quickly becoming fierce rivals and leading