If you tuned in to watch Manchester United’s recent home win over Brighton, you may have noticed that things at Old Trafford were a little darker than usual.
No, we’re not referring to Harry Maguire’s defensive skullduggery, or even the gloom of watching their noisy neighbours romp their way to a fifth Premier League title, but rather the swathes of black material that covered the stands in lieu of actual supporters.
It turns out, however, that this was not simply a cosmetic choice designed to give the Reds an edgy, emo aesthetic.
Instead, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that it was a change made to help his players win matches. No, really.
The Norwegian boss said: "We've looked into this.
"There shouldn't be a reason, really, but some of the players have mentioned that split-second decision you have to make where you look over your shoulder to see if your team-mate is there or not and the red shirt is on a red background with red seats.
"You'll see a change now, if you see the banners around the club it's not red anymore."
Bizarre as it may be, perhaps there is some method in United’s interior design madness.
The Reds have won just 54.2% of their home matches this term, with the equivalent away figure coming in at 65.4%.
With that in mind, we’ve taken a closer look at some of the other strangest excuses in footballing history below...
9. Davids has beef
Netherlands duo Edgar Davids and Frank de Boer were banned in 2001 after testing positive for banned steroid nandrolone. But how could two international footballers ended up with a questionable substance in their system in such a closely monitored professional sporting environment? Well, according to teammate Bert Konterman, the answer is beef. Spouting his bovine conspiracy theories at the time, he said: "In Holland, a lot of farmers inject cows with nandrolone to enhance the beef and make more money for themselves. I think this is what happened. The Dutch players have had dinner with the national team and probably had beef with a lot of nandrolone in it." (Photo by Ben Radford /Allsport) Photo: Ben Radford
10. That Suarez bite
In a piece of weaselling straight out of the preschool playbook, Luis Suarez denied any wrongdoing for taking a bite out of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder during the 2014 World Cup by arguing that he had in fact fell, tooth-first, into his opponent. The problem, and in retrospect it's a bleeding obvious one, was that the match was being filmed from about a thousand different camera angles and the entire world was watching. But hey, god loves a trier. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images) Photo: Matthias Hangst