Manchester City fans waved hundreds of inflatable bananas in the air as they faced Ipswich in the Premier League.
City were playing in their first Premier League game at home since an independent commission ruled that the club’s Abu Dhabi owners had systematically . The club have launched an appeal against the verdict and insist they have “irrefutable evidence” to support their position.
Supporters also waved inflatable bananas at Anfield last week when City faced Liverpool and manager Enzo Maresca said he wanted to see them at the Etihad Stadium for his side’s match against Ipswich on Saturday.
The giant bananas rekindles a tradition from the late 1980s when fans brought bananas and other inflatables to matches during a difficult time in English football when clubs were banned from European competition.
For City, it is a throwback to a craze from the 1980s and 1990s when fans took them to games to lighten the mood amid difficult times on the pitch and the club spent time in the lower divisions of English football.
The idea was promoted by City supporters’ group 1894, and is a reference to the fans bringing fun to the game amid conflict with football’s authorities. “The message – this fan base has always been on a rollercoaster,” the group tweeted last week.
Maresca, who oversaw since the verdict, feels it has been a strong visual sign in the face of heavy external criticism.
The Italian said: “It’s very nice. I didn’t know the history behind the banana, but I hope tomorrow I can see many bananas in the stadium.
“I think it creates a nice environment for the fans and for everyone that is in the stadium.”
He added: “I think Ruben (Dias) said that people don’t like City to win, but we like to win. So I think that is a good message for everyone.
“I think probably since the noise, I can see from my personal point of view, the fans, the club, the team, more together for sure.”
Maresca’s own children have even been asking him for bananas.
He said: “I have four kids. They already asked me, but tomorrow they’re going to be at the stadium and we’ll see.”
City were found guilty of inflating their revenues by £900m, using disguised funding schemes. Liverpool were beaten into second place during the 2013/14 season and the fans voiced their displeasure at City during last Sunday’s late Premier League kick-off.
Outside the stadium, merchandise sellers sold flags and scarves displaying Man City’s players with the words “guilty” and “cheats”, while Liverpool supporters lined the streets around an hour and a half before the scheduled 4.30pm kick-off to greet the team buses.
Songs were sung about Manchester City “going down, going down, going down” and that the club were “cheating b*****ds”. To maintain order, Merseyside Police flew drones and had an increased presence of officers around the ground. Liverpool’s team bus arrived to much fanfare but City’s two coaches took a quieter, alternate route to the stadium to avoid the crowds.
However, inside the stadium the players were met with a chorus of boos as they came onto the pitch, while the home fans also displayed a banner which read “a generation of supporters cheated” in one corner of the ground.