As part of their promotion push, Norwich City have taken an extremely scientific approach to unsettling their opponents at Carrow Road.
On the advice of a sports psychologist, the Canaries have painted the away dressing room pink in order to “lower the testosterone levels” of visiting players.
According to the Eastern Daily Press, the fiendish ploy was revealed by Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber during a recent fan forum, in which he explained that the exact same scheme had been found to be highly successful in “lowering aggression and promoting empathy” in American prisons.
The Championship club gave the “deep pink” technique a shot after hearing that the approach was employed so successfully by US college football teams in the past that the governing authorities stepped in to outlaw it.
However, Dr Andrew Bayliss, senior psychology lecturer at the University of East Anglia, isn’t quite as sold, arguing that while marginal gains may be found, the pink approach might also work against Daniel Farke’s side:
If they have played a team with a pink changing room in the past and smashed them then the victorious feeling could be triggered, which might improve their game.
In case you were wondering, Norwich’s home dressing room is larger and painted bright white with the club crest and motivational phrases daubed hither and thither.
Honestly, we think we’d prefer pink.