Maybe; I for one didn't really hear for a long time that, or why, he was having problems. Big difference between what's in interviews or the author's blog, and then what's on the page.

I don't think it was a deliberate choice, but I do think that there was a broken promise. Minor, forgivable, but a lot of the commentary from the other side has been to the tune of "he doesn't owe you anything," to which my answer remains "he did make us a promise..."