Manchester City fans turned the away end at Anfield into a sea of yellow on Sunday as they waved hundreds of inflatable bananas during a dominant 3-0 win over Liverpool.
Defiant response to guilty verdict
The display came in City’s first Premier League match since an independent commission found the club guilty of 114 financial rule breaches covering the years 2009 to 2018.
Liverpool supporters greeted the visitors with boos, “cheats” banners and hostile chants. City fans answered with humor and history instead of anger.
The 1980s banana tradition
The inflatable bananas are a long-standing Manchester City custom that began in the 1987-88 season. A supporter named Frank Newton brought a large blow-up banana to Maine Road for a match against Plymouth Argyle. Fans quickly linked it to striker Imre Varadi, chanting “Imre Banana.”
The fun craze spread across the terraces during a tough period when City yo-yoed between divisions and English football faced problems with hooliganism. Other clubs later copied the idea with their own inflatables but the bananas stayed special to City.
Organised by supporters
Fan group 1894 helped distribute more than 1,000 of the yellow balloons for the Anfield trip. The message was clear: the supporters remain the heart of the club no matter what happened off the pitch. City have appealed the verdict and say they have strong evidence to clear their name.
Victory on the pitch
On the field, Enzo Maresca’s side silenced the home crowd with a professional performance. Goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki sealed the three points and kept City near the top of the table.
Former striker Imre Varadi, who still embraces the nickname, called the return of the bananas “brilliant” and said it brought fun back to the game. For City fans, the yellow balloons were a simple reminder that they have ridden many rollercoasters before and will stick together through the latest one.
