Well he COULD have indicated that he'd get his head down try to get to the Prem with us instead of basically saying we aren't good enough couldn't he, the prick.
No he did not. You never 'effectively' hand in a transfer request.
If a club doesn't not bid up to the value that the selling club deem the player at any point, then the club should not sell the player, transfer request or not.
If Bloom had accepted that was less than he (or Barber) valued a player just because they wanted to leave then a very bad precedent would be set. Every player now knows they are here until a club comes in with an offer that fits what we want.
Strong leadership.
If Stephens wanted a move so badly for the last few weeks he's have submitted a transfer request in the summer. He didn't, his 'dream' clearly wasn't worth the 10% of his transfer fee he'd miss out on if he had done.
Tosser.