MANCHESTER CITY cult hero Imre Varadi is cashing in on their financial scandal — nearly four decades after he sparked the club’s banana craze.
The ex- striker, dubbed ‘Imre Banana’ when fans took inflatables to games in the 1980s, now sells them for £10 a pop and business is booming in the wake of their charges.
Now the club are giving him the VIP treatment with an invite to Saturday’s Ipswich clash — with the Etihad set to be a sea of yellow.
Varadi, 67, said: “I’m getting thousands of orders from all over the world — demand has absolutely gone through the roof.
“The club want to see the entire Etihad holding bananas!
“City invited me and my family to the game and are giving us the VIP treatment.”
The continued into the early 90s and hundreds appeared again during .
It was City’s first game since being found guilty of between 2009 and 2019.
With the club facing a potential points rap or expulsion from the top flight, City fans took bananas to Anfield as a nod to their time as a yo-yo club in the 80s.
Varadi, who spent two years at City from 1986, set up his business 18 months ago selling the inflatable bananas.
He now works with the club and said: “The craze has taken off again.
“It will be 40 years next year since it began and is ingrained in City’s history, so I’m proud to be a part of it.
“I launched my own company — as now the inflatable business is a billion-dollar industry.
“And I’m the actual ‘Imre Banana’ who played for City, wore the No 9 and scored goals for them!
“To see so many bananas in the away end at Anfield was really special.
“And this weekend’s game against Ipswich is just going to be unbelievable.”
Varadi — born in London to a Hungarian dad and Italian mum — played for 15 teams during his 18-year journeyman career.
Ex-teams include , Newcastle, , Leeds and both Sheffield clubs.
The charismatic Cockney was signed by City for a bargain £50,000 by manager Jimmy Frizzell after a disastrous start to the 1986-87 season.
Varadi was their top scorer as City went down and he was prolific again in the Second Division — but promotion eluded them.
He said: “Football was different when I played at City, with a lot of hooliganism in the game generally.
“But we were close to the fans and the banana craze just strengthened that bond.
“It all began in 1987 and even made the BBC Six O’Clock News — now it’s back stronger than ever.
“A lot of people ask, ‘Why do they call you call Imre Banana?’. Does Varadi even rhyme with banana? I don’t know!
“It’s a reflection of the situation the club finds itself in.
“It’s not the fans’ or the players’ fault and it’s the supporters’ way of saying, ‘We’re still going to have fun and back our team’.
“When rival fans are giving you stick, it can galvanise the team — and already has.
“I’ve had so many messages about it since then and it’s just great to be part of City folklore.”
