Manchester City’s inflatable bananas are back. Business is booming for Imre Varadi

Inflatable bananas, you might have noticed, have become quite a thing again at Manchester City since they were found guilty of all those charges. Their supporters have been bringing mountains of them to games, with Phil Foden even carrying one to a post-match interview on Saturday.

The story behind them? It all goes back to 1987, when City were rubbish. A supporter by the name of Frank Newton brought a five-foot inflatable banana to a Second Division game against Plymouth. Why? Just for a laugh, and soon enough most City fans were brandishing them. “Gallows humour”, as the Manchester Evening News called it, “it helped fans cope with lacklustre performances on the pitch”.