On This Day in Everton History: March 19th, 1986

In 1985, Liverpool and Juventus found themselves in the European Cup Final that took place at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. But, before the match could even start, disaster struck. Liverpool fans had breached a fence separating them from the Juventus fans and had forced them up against a concrete wall which then collapsed. 39 fans died mostly Italians and Juve fans, with hundreds of others injured. The tragedy led to an indefinite ban of all English teams from European competitions.

The disaster had another far-reaching effect on a side that was not even scheduled to play in that game. Everton’s golden generation that had contended for just about every English title at the time, and had just lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup, would never get the chance to play in the European Cup (the predecessor of the Champions League).

The ban would be lifted prior to the 1990-91 season, but while it was in place, the FA wanted to reward those who had earned a spot in European competitions in that ill-fated year, including Everton who were top of the league in the 1984-1985 season. Enter the ScreenSport Super Cup.

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The Super Cup was a custom competition made up of six teams who qualified for Europe - Everton, Liverpool, Southampton, Manchester United, Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur. Played alongside the regular 1985-86 season, the teams were placed in two separate groups of three and were to play each other two times in the group stages.

Everton and Liverpool won their respective groups while Norwich and Tottenham rounded out the semifinals. In the first of two legs, Everton and Tottenham played to a scoreless draw in February.

That brings us to March 19th, 1986.

Everton would welcome Spurs to Goodison for the second leg of the Super Cup semifinal. In front of a dire crowd of just over 12,000 fans (attendance for the entire tournament was this bad), the Toffees looked to advance to the Super Cup Final for a date with their crosstown rivals looking likely. Adrian Heath put Everton up 1-0 but Mark Falco tied things up for Spurs and it would stay that way through regulation.

The match would go into extra time where the Toffees drew first blood. First, it was Derek Mountfield, then Graeme Sharp, a substitute in this one, who put Everton up 3-1 for good. The Toffees were through to the very first, and only, ScreenSport Super Cup Final.

Due to the congested schedule, the Final was pushed back to September of the next season where Liverpool took on an injury-ridden Everton and defeated the Toffees 7-2 on aggregate in the two-legged Final. Unfortunately, for the Toffees there was no revenge to be had the following year as the Super Cup was scrapped and never heard of again.

And THAT is today in Everton history.