Any mention of the Dutch city of Rotterdam will always rekindle special memories for a generation of Evertonians.

Tens of thousands of supporters made the journey from Merseyside to Holland ON THIS DAY in 1985 for the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the De Kuip Stadium, home of Feyenoord.

Howard Kendall’s team had reached the final after conceding only one goal in the competition, whereas Rapid had actually been ‘knocked out’ by Celtic in the 2nd round – only for UEFA to declare the second leg in Glasgow to be null and void following crowd disturbances.

A replayed game at Old Trafford was arranged which Rapid won 1-0.

Everton were in peak form ahead of the final but frustratingly the match was goalless at half-time.

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Kevin Sheedy had forced a smart low save from Michael Konsel, Paul Bracewell fired narrowly wide and Andy Gray had the ball in the net but the effort was very harshly ruled out by a linesman who thought that Derek Mountfield was in an offside position when he headed a Sheedy free-kick back across the face of the goal.

There was an early second-half scare for Everton when a cross from Peter Pacult deflected off Pat Van den Hauwe and bounced off the crossbar for a corner.

The breakthrough came on 57 minutes when Graeme Sharp pounced on a poor back-pass and clipped the ball into the area for Gray to volley home with his left foot.

It should have been 2-0 not long after when Trevor Steven found himself in on goal but Konsel produced a wonderful one-handed save to turn the ball over.

Steven wouldn’t be denied though and in the 72nd minute he was well placed at the far post to smash home a corner from Sheedy that had eluded everyone inside the box.

The hordes of Evertonians were in dreamland as time ebbed away but legendary Austrian striker Hans Krankl sent nerves fluttering when he pulled a goal back with five minutes to go.

But almost immediately, Sharp was the provider again when he teed up Sheedy to blast home the clinching goal.

The trophy presentation was a bit sloppy but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the fans, who celebrated long into the night and turned Rotterdam into a royal blue party zone!

DID YOU KNOW…
• Rapid manager Otto Baric was the Croatian national boss at the 2004 European Championship when Everton’s Wayne Rooney helped England beat them 4-2 in the group stage.
• Rapid’s Zlatko Kranjcar is the father of Niko Kranjcar, who played against Everton in the Premier League for three different teams – Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspur and QPR.
• Antonin Panenka, he of the famous ‘Panenka penalty’ for Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final against West Germany, came on as a substitute for Rapid in the second half of the final.

Everton - Howard's Way tells the full story of Howard Kendall's glorious trophy-winning team in the 1980s and tales from Merseyside during that era.

All proceeds from the documentary will go to fund The People's Place, Everton's purpose-built mental health facility close to Goodison Park.

Click here for details of how to watch Howard's Way.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE PEOPLE'S PLACE