I think most people just get on with their own lives and aren't particularly interested in the nitty gritty finer details of something so complex and serious. Then they hear something in the pub and all hell breaks loose.
It's a bit like Wimbledon when everyone seemingly becomes an expert on Tennis and suddenly start confiding that Djokovic needs to grow old gracefully (even when they couldn't tell you a single thing about his opponent)
Or to give a better example, everyone remembers Eddie the Eagle, but nobody remembers who won the Olympic Gold Medal that year.
The details don't matter. City must be guilty because a lot of people think we're guilty.