11 Most Ridiculous Excuses For Losing Football Matches

3. Wearing Grey

In another example that laid the blame firmly with the team's kit, Sir Alex Ferguson once very famously blamed his side's abject defeat to Southampton in the 1996 game at The Dell that saw the Red Devils put the sword and defeated 6-3. Fergie infamously claimed that "the players don't like the grey strip," and had his side change to blue and white for the second half having already conceded three times. To their credit - and almost justifying his claims - United then scored twice and were on the verge of an unlikely come-back, even with Roy Keane sent off and Eric Cantona intent on committing all-out assault on Ulrich Van Gobbel, but then promptly conceded three more times to disprove any suggestion that their poorness came from strip choices. This game came straight after United's famous 5-0 loss to Newcastle, and put Newcastle within touching distance of the Reds, and the pressure might well have been more telling than Fergie's assessment that the players somehow didn't recognise each other in grey.