Fairly simple, he and/or his agents were acting like a dick, they were backing them into a corner on a contract that didn't and still doesn't suit the club. They felt, ironically incorrectly, that without him we'd go down and wanted the word out there so people wouldn't be upset when he left. It worked, some are actively happy to see him go, everyone else is resigned to it.
Also I saw that Chelsea game, Keen was wrong about the limited wave, he wasn't about the performance. That was a player either not trying or injured and there's been no reporting subsequent to it to suggest the latter