Lechia's fortunes slowly declined after 1979 after having been competitive in the league for the previous 5 seasons. For the 1978–79 season the second tier once again experienced a change, with the groups changing from North and South. to becoming East and West, with Lechia joining the West group. Strangely this had an effect on the team with the team finished 6th and 7th in the following two seasons. During the summer in 1981 Zdzisław Puszkarz left Lechia. A player who had been seen as too good for the second tier for many years finally left the team he supported. His effect on the team became evident for the 1981–82 season. The team fell to 14th after winning only 6 of their 30 games, and were 7 points from safety. Lechia found themselves once again in the third tier, this time without their best ever player to help them out.