Stern, Foulkes and Hill
1974–75: The Chicago Sting were the dream child of Lee Stern, a leading Chicago commodities broker, who in 1974 took an expensive gamble that his hometown would accept soccer as a major league sport. Stern turned to England for a coach in the shape of ‘Busby Babe’ Bill Foulkes, the former Manchester United defender.
Foulkes built a team of predominantly British players (there were 10 in the 1975 squad and 11 in 1976 and 1977) including Gordon Hill who would later win 6 England caps and play over a hundred games for Manchester United including the 1976 FA Cup Final. In Chicago he hit six goals in the Sting’s inaugural season and firmly established himself as a fan’s favourite.
In the summer of 1975 a sparse crowd of 4,500 watched the Sting’s very first home game and as it began so it continued with an average that year of around the 4,000 mark – although close to 14,000 did turn out to see the Sting take on the 1974 Polish World Cup team in a friendly.
The Sting missed out on the playoffs by a single point losing the final game of the season in a penalty shoot-out (Hill missing his attempt).
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