DECLARING who lost what as a result of the Heysel disaster is a sensitive subject. Kevin Ratcliffe would not dream of describing himself as a victim of a tragedy in which 39 supporters lost their lives.

The Everton defender did, though, lose something precious that evening. As champions of England by what was then a record margin, Everton had been looking forward to challenging for the European Cup but Heysel put an end to that. Ratcliffe believes that, two decades on, his former club suffered terrible and lasting consequences — in strictly footballing terms.

“When you talk about who missed out, the first thing you have to say is that people lost husbands, fathers, loved ones,” Ratcliffe said.

“But Everton also suffered hugely as a club. We had just won the title and the Cup Winners’ Cup so we really fancied our chances of maintaining England’s dominance in Europe. Instead, the team broke up and all the talent started dwindling away.

“Gary Stevens and Trevor Steven went up to Scotland where there was the attraction of playing in Europe and, while there were also contractual issues, Howard Kendall went to Bilbao. We had a couple more good years but it was never the same.

“You couldn’t really say it at the time but I did think the ban was a harsh punishment and I don’t think it was punishing the guilty parties. Everton suffered more than anyone because, by the time the ban was lifted, the club was not competing at the highest level. The club had missed the chance to really kick on.”

The effects of the five-year ban that arose from Heysel have long been debated. What no one can contest is the statistic that, between 1977 and 1984, English football had provided the European champions seven times. Only Manchester United, with their isolated victory in 1999, have reached the final since.

The most common argument, recently revived by Gary Lineker, who joined Everton in the summer of 1985, was that the ban closed English minds to advances in technique. “When English clubs eventually got back into Europe, they had lost considerable ground in terms of tactical development,” he said. “None of us realised that at the time, of course.” Aside from the wonderful Liverpool team that won the 1987-88 championship with John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge, it does seem easy to trace a decline in standards at the top of the English game. The late 1980s were, perhaps, most notable for the rise of Wimbledon. The Crazy Gang, who would have twice qualified for Europe, would have made dubious ambassadors.

Liverpool were certainly not the invincible force of old while Everton, despite winning a second championship in 1986-87, never reached the peaks of two years earlier. And George Graham’s Arsenal were certainly no match for the great AC Milan team of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard which came so impressively to the fore.

With Heysel and the Bradford fire in 1985, Hillsborough in 1989 and a five-year ban from Europe in between, it was not hard to see why English football might seem a less attractive proposition to the likes of the Dutch trio than Italy’s Serie A. The movement of footballers across Europe and the world was rapidly increasing, but the biggest names were heading for Italy and Spain.

By the time that English clubs returned to Europe, their rivals were stocked with some of the world’s outstanding players while Arsenal, for example, had Glenn Helder and John Jensen.

That disadvantage was compounded by the waning of the Celtic influence on the English game. Throw in the burgeoning confidence of the Italian clubs as their representatives, such as Milan, began to bring home the trophy and it is not hard to see why English clubs returned to European competition with an inferiority complex.

Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds United cannot have entered the European Cup with much hope of winning it. Even Manchester United took a long time to gather their bearings in Europe, a problem exacerbated by Uefa’s restrictions on the use of foreign players.

Throw in all of those factors and it is no surprise that English clubs did not immediately re-establish their supremacy, but it is harder to explain why the Premiership is still punching so far below its weight. Some of the world’s leading stars are now playing in the English game and yet still English clubs underachieve. According to José Mourinho and most of his fellow managers, the hurly-burly of domestic football is the worst possible preparation for European competition.

That cannot purely be attributed to Heysel.

For Everton, though, the 1985 disaster was certainly a turning point. The chance to become kings of Europe had passed and difficult times lay ahead. “I still think Everton should have been invited back into the European Cup as soon as they opened it back up to English clubs,” Ratcliffe said.

Twenty years on, they might be back in the continent’s premier competition next season but, in contrast to Kendall’s side, they will not have the slightest chance of lifting the trophy. “They were not only the best side I ever played for but the best around,” Lineker said.

But no one will ever know just how good they were.