The arrival of Howard Kendall at Everton in 1981 heralded a golden period for the Toffees in the 80s, a decade in which they hit back at their Merseyseide neighbours dominance in England. Kendall's side hit their peak in 1985, a season to which all others have been compared since.
The glory days began in 1984, when a goal each from deadly strike pairing Andy Gray and Graeme Sharp saw off Watford at Wembley and bought the Toffees a place in the following season's European Cup Winners Cup. In the league, Everton had ended the season in terrific form, losing just three of their last 21 matches and securing seventh place after a poor start to the campaign. They also narrowly missed out on a cup double, losing out in the League Cup final in a replay with arch-enemies Liverpool.
So when the 1984-85 season began, expectations were high in the blue half of Merseyside. Two defeats in the opening two games, including a 4-1 hammering from Spurs brought them back down to earth again. But the Blues were nothing if not resilient under Kendall. They put the setback behind them and would lose just once more in the next 20 matches, beating Liverpool at Anfield and doing the double over Manchester United in the process.
Knocked off top spot before Christmas with a defeat to Chelsea, like in the previous season, Everton roared home in the second half of the campaign. In the end they won the title at a canter, beating QPR 2-0 to lift the trophy with five games to go. To make it all the sweeter they finished the season 13 points ahead of Liverpool.
In the meantime Everton were taking to the European stage as if they had graced it for decades. By the time they came to face Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup they had hit 10 goals without reply. They extended that record of clean sheets with a goalless draw in Munich to set up what fans remember as the greatest night Goodison Park has ever seen.
At half-time it seemed as if the Germans were going to spoil the party, Dieter Hoeness giving them a 1-0 lead at the break. But Kendall rallied his troops at half-time and when they re-emerged from the tunnel, Bayern had no answer to the energy of the players or the crowd. Sharp equalised within three minutes and Andy Gray put them ahead before Trevor Steven put the icing on the cake in the final five minutes.
After the drama of the semi-final, Rapid Vienna posed few problems for the men in blue, who beat their Austrian opponents 3-1. Only an extra-time winner from Manchester United's Norman Whiteside in the FA Cup Final denied the Toffees a treble but nothing could take the gloss of what was an historic season. The names of that famous squad still roll off the tongues of Evertonians to this day.