Why Man City fans brought 1,000 inflatable bananas to Anfield during their 3-0 win

Manchester City fans turned Anfield into a sea of yellow on Sunday, brandishing around 1,000 inflatable bananas as their side beat Liverpool 3-0 — and the man behind the revival says the tradition is not going away any time soon.

The bizarre spectacle had its roots in the late 1980s, when a supporter named Frank Newton brought a four-foot inflatable banana to a second-tier fixture against Plymouth Argyle at Maine Road in 1987. The absurdist gesture caught on as a coping mechanism during a period of underwhelming performances, and the image lodged itself in City folklore.

Nick Clarke, chair of the Citizens Trust and co-founder of MCFC Fans Foodbank Support, explained the revival to the Manchester Evening News. “It boils down to just one man,” he said. “One man in the late 1980s, a grown man, took a massive four-foot, five-foot inflatable banana to a game. Everyone’s like, ‘What is that nutter doing?’ And then for some reason it just stuck. It’s a nod to history and one of the clearest examples of City fans’ gallows humour.”

The timing of the revival carries obvious weight. Just 12 days before the Liverpool match, an independent commission found City guilty of 114 financial breaches between 2009 and 2018. The club fiercely dispute the findings and have lodged an official appeal, leaving supporters facing an uncertain future.

Clarke credited the atmosphere group 1894 with organising the stunt, describing it as entirely fan-led and fan-funded. Bananas were distributed to supporters’ club branches and pubs before kick-off, though many fans sourced their own. Some inflatables also appeared at the Etihad Stadium during City’s 4-2 defeat to PSG on Wednesday.

Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki scored the second-half goals that sealed the win at Anfield, sending the away end of just over 3,000 supporters into celebration — bananas aloft.

“It’s just having fun,” Clarke said. “We genuinely don’t have a clue where we’re going to be in six months’ time but we absolutely know that whatever happens, we’ll be there together and we may as well enjoy it. I’ll be honest, me and a couple of my mates will probably be taking inflatables to every single game for the rest of the season.”

Clarke added that he had already purchased more inflatables during a lunch break in town, with City’s away fixture at Aston Villa next in his sights.