Why Manchester City fans brought bananas to Anfield

A hostile welcome at Anfield

Manchester City stepped onto the pitch at Anfield on Sunday to face a very hostile reception from Liverpool supporters. This match marked City's return to Premier League action for the first time since they were found guilty of serious financial rules breaches.

Fans at Anfield displayed accusatory banners, booed loudly, and chanted against the visitors. In response, the travelling City fans decided to show defiance by bringing hundreds of inflatable bananas into the stadium.

The history of the yellow plastic fruit

To anyone unfamiliar with the club's history, the inflatable bananas looked like an odd choice. However, this was not a sudden decision, as City fans have brought them to games since the 1980s.

The practice actually started during the 1987-88 season. City had been demoted to the English second tier the previous year, and a fan brought a large inflatable banana to Maine Road to lighten the mood.

At the time, the club had a popular striker named Imre Varadi. Fans gave him the affectionate nickname Imre Banana on the terraces, which caused the number of inflatable bananas in the crowd to grow.

A tradition revived

The banana fad caught on and endured intermittently for nearly forty years. They were common during the 1980s and 1990s, but the trend mostly faded out following the club's stadium change and takeover in the mid-2000s.

Sunday brought the tradition back. Hundreds of yellow plastic toys bobbed around in the Anfield Road Stand while rivals called City cheats and threatened them with potential relegation.