Manchester City fans are set to bring inflatable bananas to Anfield on Sunday, reviving the famous Imre Banana craze as a defiant response to the club's guilty verdicts. The 1894 fan group has ensured the inflatables will be front and centre for the cameras when City return to club football at Liverpool.
The last two weeks have been among the most serious in Manchester City's history, with an independent commission finding the club guilty of systemic cheating across nine years, tarnishing their achievements since the 2008 takeover. City insist on their innocence and will appeal, but the verdicts have cast a cloud over the game.
The origins of the Imre Banana craze
The inflatable banana tradition dates back to 1987, when striker Imre Varadi was warming up at Maine Road and a fan waved a banana at him. "I came jogging out one evening and someone was waving a banana. They started to call me Imre Banana and I'm thinking what?! The following game, there were 25-30 bananas and everyone was calling me Imre Banana," he told the Manchester Evening News this week.
"It grew and grew that season and just went crazy and then all the other football clubs started - Norwich had inflatable canaries, West Ham had an inflatable hammer. It just took off that season, it was incredible, and the craze is still going now," Varadi added. "I don't know whether they couldn't say Varadi but it was just a craze that I'm proud of and is still going to this day."
A defiant gesture at Anfield
The bananas emerged during a difficult era in English football, marked by hooliganism, the Heysel disaster, and the resulting five-year ban from European competitions. In Manchester, the Hacienda's heyday saw fans spill out to Maine Road for weekend double-headers. When City fan Frank Newton took an inflatable banana to a game to win a bet, somebody shouted "Imre Banana" and the craze was born.
City fans had a riot on their last away day when their 10 men were victorious in the derby at Old Trafford, but the guilty verdicts have wiped the smiles from their faces. The decision to take inflatables to Anfield is a defiant gesture that sets out their position, especially given several violent incidents at fixtures in recent years.
A member of the 1894 Group told the Manchester Evening News: "It's to remind everyone it doesn't matter what league we end up in, we'll always be there. It's daft, it's a bit of fun. The City fans are going there for a party no matter how much the media ramps it up."
Varadi's trademark and carnival atmosphere
Varadi, who decided a few years ago to trademark the name Imre Banana (imrebanana.com) and set up a company to sell the inflatables, will be doubly delighted to see them out in force. The club and kit sponsors Puma have sold them in official shops since the beginning of last season.
"There's always humour with the City supporters, which is great," said Varadi. "I'm looking forward to seeing all the bananas in the stand at Anfield. It will be a bit like a carnival, I'm sure."
