This wasn't just anywhere, this was Rotterdam

FATE - and tragic events elsewhere beyond their control - would cruelly deny them of what should have been their destiny to chase even greater glories.

- By CHRIS BEESLEY

But watching back Everton winning what remains their only European trophy to date some 40 years ago today proves fascinating viewing for football fans a quarter of a century on from the millennium.

On May 15, 1985, Howard Kendall's heroes, who had battled back from a goal down to defeat Bayern Munich 3-1 in their semi-final second leg - a brutal encounter which four decades on remains widely regarded as being Goodison Park's greatest-ever night - defeated Rapid Vienna by the same scoreline at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam to lift the European Cup Winners' Cup.

The now defunct competition was last played in 1999, but at the time it was ranked above the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) as being second only to the European Cup and was a tournament that would regularly feature some of the continent's top sides given that only the champions of each domestic division would go into the latter.

After starting slowly, and scraping past Irish part-timers University College Dublin in the first round by a single goal over two legs, Everton grew into the competition and having despatched Inter Bratislava and Fortuna Sittard en route, the strike by Dieter Hoeness in front of the Gwladys Street that fleetingly silenced Goodison, was the only time Neville Southall had been beaten ahead of the final.

For the Blues, who would lift the eighth of their nine League Championships by a then-record 13 points with five games to spare, the trip to Rotterdam was the second part of a treble bid with the FA Cup final against Manchester United to come at Wembley less than 72 hours later.

Unlike their neighbours from across Stanley Park, who had enjoyed successful European trips on a regular basis for several seasons, the trip to Rotterdam was the culmination of what for many Evertonians had been a novel experience of following their side across the continent throughout the campaign.