Manchester City fans marked their first match since the club's guilty verdict on 114 financial rule breaches with a defiant display of inflatable bananas in the away end at Anfield.
The bright yellow inflatables were impossible to miss during Sunday's clash with Liverpool, which came 12 days after an independent commission found the club guilty of breaches spanning 2009 to 2018. City deny the findings and have launched an appeal.
Despite fierce home chanting about cheating, City won 3-0 with goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki, each strike sending the visiting supporters wild.
Why the bananas?
The inflatable banana craze began with City fan Frank Newton, who brought a banana over five feet long to a second-tier match in 1987. Hundreds later adopted inflatables to lift spirits during poor results.
Nick Clarke, chair of the Citizens Trust and co-founder of MCFC Fans Foodbank Support, told the Manchester Evening News: "The inflatables have come around again, organically led by fans from the 1894 group, at a time when we're facing an unprecedented potential fallout."
Clarke said the display showed fans facing adversity "with a cheeky grin on our faces" and described the away end as full of "complete resolute steadfastness".
Fans' message of unity
Clarke added: "On some level, this entire situation is absurd and I think it is a little bit of a reflection of that, too. I was really fearful that fans would be down, feeling a bit beaten and a bit crushed at Liverpool."
He said the experience brought fans closer together, noting the tradition predates many in the away end and reflects the fans as "the only constant" in the club's history.
"It's not completely serious either - you don't go to the football because it's completely serious," Clarke said. "For God's sake, there's literally nowhere else on earth other than a City home or away end where I'd be waving a banana above my head!"
