1984/85: Everton rise to the top
Saturday 1 June 1985
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Everton celebrate winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (©Getty Images)
Everton FC 3-1 SK Rapid Wien
Feijenoord Stadium, Rotterdam
In a great season, Everton FC won the English league title and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. Howard Kendall had built a compact side with Welsh goalkeeper Neville Southall protected by a rock-solid defence which conceded only two goals in nine matches. Peter Reid, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy ran the midfield, while Scottish striker Andy Gray provided the cutting edge. Proof that they were good enough to take a European crown came in the semi-finals when they took on FC Bayern München. The ‘Toffeemen’ drew 0-0 in Munich and, even though Dieter Hoeness gave the Germans a 1-0 half-time lead, Graeme Sharp, Gray and Steven secured a 3-1 win.
Comeback merchants
Their opponents in Rotterdam were an SK Rapid Wien side which came back from the dead more than once. A 3-0 defeat by Celtic FC in Glasgow was wiped out because an Austrian player had been struck by an object thrown from the crowd – and Rapid won the replay in Manchester 1-0. They then came back from a 3-0 defeat by SC Dynamo Dresden in the German Democratic Republic in the quarter-finals, winning the return in Vienna 5-0.
Everton power past Rapid
But there was no ‘phoenix from the ashes’ story in Rotterdam. They were overpowered by Everton’s growing momentum in the second half. Gray and Steven put them 2-0 ahead, only for veteran striker Hans Krankl to put SK Rapid back in contention with seven minutes to play. But Sheedy killed off Austrian hopes within two minutes. Two weeks later, the Heysel disaster provoked a European ban for English clubs and Everton were unable to defend their title.
| Everton FC - SK Rapid Wien | 3 - 1 |
| Stage | Final |
| Half-Time | 0 - 0 |
| Date | 15.05.1985 |
| Kick-Off | 20:15:00 |
| Venue | Feijenoord |
| City/Town | Rotterdam |
| Attendance | 38,500 |
| Referee | CASARIN Paolo (ITA) |
| Match Report | |||||
 | 58' | GRAY Andy | |||
 | 60' | PACULT Peter (out) / GROSS Hans (in) | |||
| 67' | WEINHOFER Rudolf (out) / PANENKA Antonin (in) | |||
| 72' | STEVEN Trevor | |||
| 84' | KRANKL Hans | |||
| 85' | SHEEDY Kevin | |||
| Team Line-Ups | |
| Everton FC | SK Rapid Wien |
| SOUTHALL Neville (G) (C) | KONSEL Michael (G) |
| STEVENS Gary | LAINER Leo |
| RATCLIFFE Kevin | WEBER Heribert |
| MOUNTFIELD Derek | GARGER Kurt |
| VAN DEN HAUWE Pat | BRAUNEDER Karl |
| STEVEN Trevor | HRISTIC Peter |
| REID Peter | KIENAST Reinhard |
| BRACEWELL Paul | KRANJCAR Zlatko |
| SHEEDY Kevin | WEINHOFER Rudolf |
| GRAY Andy | PACULT Peter |
| SHARP Graeme | KRANKL Hans (C) |
| Used Substitutes | |
| GROSS Hans | |
| PANENKA Antonin | |
| Head Coach | |
| KENDALL Howard | BARIC Otto |
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