Why Did Man City Fans Wave Inflatable Bananas at Anfield?

Hundreds of inflatable bananas were held aloft by Manchester City fans during their clash against Liverpool at Anfield, which ended in a comprehensive 3-0 result. It was City's first Premier League fixture since an independent commission ruled that the club's Abu Dhabi owners had systematically breached numerous financial regulations between 2009 and 2018.

The atmosphere at Anfield, where Liverpool have been City's fiercest rivals over the past decade, was predictably hostile. City players were greeted with a chorus of boos every time they touched the ball during the opening minutes.

In response, the traveling Manchester City supporters cheered on their team ahead of kick-off, waving giant blow-up bananas in the away end.

The gesture revived a late-1980s cult tradition, when supporters brought bananas and other novelty inflatables to grounds during a turbulent period for English football following the European ban on English clubs.

Promoted by fan group "1894", the initiative paid homage to supporters' long-standing desire to inject lighthearted fun into the terraces amid ongoing battles with football authorities.

The craze traces back to August 1987, when City fan Frank Newton brought an inflatable banana to Maine Road for a fixture against Plymouth Argyle.

The novelty caught on so rapidly that City fans adapted the surname of then-striker Imre Varadi into the famous chant: "Imre Banana".

The chant established the yellow inflatable as an unofficial club mascot, prompting thousands more to bring their own to matches. Varadi even spoke to the Manchester Evening News at the time to reflect on the bizarre phenomenon.

The movement reached its peak on Boxing Day in 1988, when more than 10,000 traveling Blues packed into Stoke City's Victoria Ground armed with inflatables. To the away end's delight, the City players even stepped onto the pitch carrying giant yellow bananas before kick-off.

City's yellow inflatables soon evolved into a nationwide phenomenon, with rival fanbases adopting their own mascots—such as Stoke City's "Pink Panthers". Terraces across the country were quickly filled with surreal spectacles featuring blow-up monsters, green dinosaurs, and giant novelty hammers.