Why Man City Fans Bring Inflatable Bananas to Games Against Liverpool Explained
Manchester City fans are bringing back an old tradition for their big game against Liverpool at Anfield, following the club’s recent guilty verdict on 115 charges. This is City’s first match since the independent commission’s decision, which took over two years to be announced after a long hearing.
Liverpool fans are expected to give a loud welcome, although a planned bus greeting that caught police attention didn’t happen because a different route was used.
City fans also have their own way of reacting to the huge story that could see their club kicked out of the Premier League and Football League. They’re bringing lots of inflatable bananas to the away section at Anfield for one of the most-watched games of the season.
This banana tradition means a lot to City fans. It started back in 1987 when a supporter named Frank Newton brought a five-foot inflatable banana to a match at Maine Road, the club’s old stadium. The idea came from a cult player, Imre Varadi, who scored 31 goals in 81 games. Fans nicknamed him “Imre Banana” and created chants around it.
At that time, City had just been relegated and fans used humor to cope with their struggles, especially during a period when football hooliganism was common and English clubs were banned from Europe.
The craze took off so much that, on Boxing Day one year, City fans brought 10,000 bananas to an away game at Stoke. Since then, inflatable bananas have been a fun part of City’s fan culture, brought out for special games.
Now, more than 1,000 bananas have been handed out for the trip to Anfield, filling the away section with them. This shows City fans want to support their team—no matter what happens, even if the club ends up in lower leagues like before they became a European powerhouse.
The club is appealing the verdict and says they have clear proof they are innocent. Dante Friend from the 1984 City fan group told Sporting News, “The message is defiance. We don’t care who owns the club, because the fans are the club.”