the players. That's part of what being a fan is about, I would think. So it seems that one of two things are true here:
1. ute fans don't actually follow news about their team very much, and aren't very informed about their team.
2. they do follow their team/players, but pretend to not know when something negative happens they want to pretend obliviousness about.
If the answer is #2, then they should be called out for hypocrisy. If it's only #1, well, not a big deal—they are just lukewarm fans, and that's ok I guess. No big deal to me.