Manchester City supporters have responded to Liverpool fans in their own unique way by bringing inflatable bananas to Anfield for the Premier League clash.
City travelled to Anfield for their first match since an independent commission found them guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period between 2009/10 and 2018/19. While City deny any wrongdoing and have launched an appeal, serious sanctions are likely if that fails.
Hostile atmosphere and inflatable bananas
As expected, the Man City players received a hostile atmosphere at Anfield as they emerged from the tunnel prior to kick-off in the huge Premier League showdown. However, as the likes of Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki made their way over to the travelling City fans, it was noticeable that there were many inflatable bananas among the crowd.
The City fan group 1894 have distributed upwards of 1,000 inflatable bananas among supporters travelling to Anfield, according to reports.
Origin of the tradition
According to the Mirror, the trend is said to have originated in August 1987, when Man City supporter Frank Newton brought a five-foot blow-up banana to Maine Road for a match against Plymouth Argyle.
"It started because of [former City forward] Imre Varadi," said Dante Friend of 1894. "It was just one guy at the game who referred to him as 'Imre Banana'. A guy called Frank Newton took an inflatable banana to the next game, and then everyone started doing it."
