Banners, inflatable bananas and tight security greet Manchester City at Anfield
Manchester City were met by a tense, hostile reception at Anfield on 11 October 2026 as they prepared for their first match since being found guilty of breaking financial fair play rules. The pre-match atmosphere featured banners, pyrotechnics and inflatable bananas among large crowds lining the stadium precinct.
Fans occupied every vantage point around Anfield, with spectators standing on walls to watch for the City team bus; police reported the coach slipped in from the opposite side of the ground to avoid confrontation and the manoeuvre defused what could have become an incendiary situation. Streets outside the ground saw pyrotechnics and vociferous chanting as supporters gathered in advance of kick-off.
Tensions on Merseyside were sharpened by the clubs’ recent history: since the City takeover in 2008, Liverpool have finished second to their rivals on three occasions, although only one of those falls within the parameters of the investigation into City’s financial breaches of Premier League rules. Many Liverpool supporters expressed the view they would have won more trophies had City not circumnavigated the rules to help sign elite players.
The animosity has been intensified since the independent commission’s guilty verdict and references to that finding were visible at stalls outside the ground. Vendors sold a “Guilty 114” flag for £15, haggled down to £10, featuring an AI image of the City squad in prison uniforms, and a “Cheats” banner styled like the Oasis logo; there were also half-and-half scarves, themed T-shirts and homemade banners paraded by supporters.
A lone City fan in sky blue stood relatively untroubled amid a sea of red as crowds chattered online about staging a “bus greeting” on Anfield Road and police made preparations for that possibility. Hostility and provocation came from both sides during the build-up, with away supporters chanting “City’s going down with a billion in the bank” while waving inflatable bananas — a tradition the report says dates back to the 1980s — and commentators outside recalled that City existed for 114 years before Sheikh Mansour’s investment and had previously fallen to the third tier and later won the Champions League.
Police flew a drone above the planned route for the City bus while officers on foot filmed the gathering as volumes and anger rose, with every vehicle treated with suspicion amid talk of subterfuge. There was no Trojan horse; the official team bus in full livery arrived up the opposite side of Anfield Road and around the back of the stand that bears the ground’s name, while the Liverpool bus reached the stadium to cheers, chants and red smoke just before 3pm, the wind stinging supporters’ eyes.
Around an hour before kick-off, after City’s coach was whisked up to the ground with a police motorcade, the travelling supporters were escorted across Stanley Park and voiced support for the club’s chair, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, with verses of “We’re Man City, we’ll cheat when we want”. Home fans offered mild heckling but the exchanges passed without incident, and when City took to the pitch for warm-ups they were loudly booed by the majority inside the ground, with every player’s name announced over the public address system receiving the same treatment while a bunch of bananas bounced in the away end.
When the match began, Manchester City won 3-0, silencing many home supporters and maintaining their lead at the top of the Premier League table, but the report concluded: "But for how long they stay at the summit or even in the league when their punishment is served, nobody knows."