Marner's letter to the fans...

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Is this October damage control? We are past public relations, just focusing on living up to the contract. It doesn't hurt to make videos for fans, but if you decide to do so, you could at least be passionate or smile.

I don't know, I'm still bitter. Just play hard and enough with these distractions.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

A guy on reddit summed it up best.

That honestly sucked from a PR perspective. It’s so tone deaf. It’s somehow both too soon and too late?

1. The timing of this sucks. Tavares was named captain 24 hours ago and now you want the attention back on you. This should have been released right after he signed if at all

2. He clearly didn’t write this himself, or at least by himself. There are a few key notes that you can tell an agent or PR person wanted in there.

3. He’s reading something he’s saying he’s passionate about, but there’s no passion in his voice.

4. It’s so corny. You could have delivered the same message in a press conference and it would have seemed so much more genuine. This is faux sincerity

Everything about this to me screams that he hated not being liked and his agent told him this would fix things. This comes off as desperate and begging to be liked, not a genuine appreciation of the city. I don’t doubt that he feels this way, it was just so poorly executed.​

Ya the most diverse fans in the world and fish bowl line seemed particularly PR team like.

 

[Rondo Hatton]

This is fine, turn in a great season and get us deep into the playoffs will be the only make good we care about, but this is a nice gesture.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I honestly hate him. Saw this on reddit yesterday and after reading the comment section no way I'm watching this. He needs to fire his PR people and needs to ****. Play hard, get goals and amazing assists like in game one and eventually maybe we'll like marner again.

A guy on reddit summed it up best.

That honestly sucked from a PR perspective. It’s so tone deaf. It’s somehow both too soon and too late?

1. The timing of this sucks. Tavares was named captain 24 hours ago and now you want the attention back on you. This should have been released right after he signed if at all

2. He clearly didn’t write this himself, or at least by himself. There are a few key notes that you can tell an agent or PR person wanted in there.

3. He’s reading something he’s saying he’s passionate about, but there’s no passion in his voice.

4. It’s so corny. You could have delivered the same message in a press conference and it would have seemed so much more genuine. This is faux sincerity

Everything about this to me screams that he hated not being liked and his agent told him this would fix things. This comes off as desperate and begging to be liked, not a genuine appreciation of the city. I don’t doubt that he feels this way, it was just so poorly executed.​

I had a feeling this was going to be a thread ...

Totally agree with you guys, I said this a little while ago, the smart PR move for Marner is to keep his yap shut for some time and let the bad feelings over his contract fade. Hearing about how much he loves the Leafs at this point in time just makes me wanna puke.

The Marner contract really pissed me off. I was just starting to get to the point where I could put it behind me and just focus on what should be a very exciting season, and then he goes and pulls this crap.

Hey Mitch, if you're reading this ... JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!

And Dubas if you're reading this, I like the job you've done overall but this contract was an unnecessary overpayment and I hope you never make a mistake like this again. Hopefully when it's time to resign Marner you'll remember that you can get it done cheaper because you know, Marner LOVES the Leafs.

Puke.

 

[hamzarocks]

Marner go out and perform and the people who hate you and shit on you will be irrelevant and put aside. He was my favourite player before the summer and my 1st choice for captain.

After his deal he is still a top 3 player of mine(Rielly indisputably 1, than Matthews/Matthews marner in the 2nd and 3rd spots interchangeably).

Go out and put up 95+ points in the regular season and be a key piece to helping us compete for the presidents trophy. Than come playoffs be ready to dominate and take over series. You need to put up a historic career defining series to help us compete for the cup. If we win and marner plays up to his abilities no one will say anything to him.

 

[MarnerElite]

I like good hockey players that play for the Leafs, therefor I like Marner. The team is better with him in the lineup so I'm over the negotiations at this point.

I love Mitch but i am not a fan of Dubas to be honest. I think he's overrated both at trades and contract negotiations(i still hate that Muzzin trade...few others very meh). Any other GM would probably be able to decrease that Marner contract by 1 mil at least...but whatever, time to just focus on playing..

 

[Gary Nylund]

This is fine, turn in a great season and get us deep into the playoffs will be the only make good we care about, but this is an empty gesture.

FYP.

 

[MapleLeafs77]

Matthews term is ridiculous for the amount asked.

Having never won a scoring title, and being injury prone. His pay is all about potential rather then for success achieved.

His contract would be the perfect amount if, like McDavid, he showed commitment to the team by signing to an 8 year 11.6 mil AAV.

Do not forgive that. There are players in other markets who have actually won scoring titles that didn't bend their club over a barrel to get the slightest of commitments.

Meh I can accept it. He is going to be worth his money. His comparables are also in line with what he is worth. Guy is going be an absolute stud moving forward. I would have prefered to sign him for 13 mill for 8 yrs personally. He would have to but dubas wanted more money available for mitch to demand it.

Mitch should be around 9 for 6 yrs and that extra money shoulda went to matthews to extend his contract to 8 yrs. thats my opinion at least.

 

[Jmo89]

Wow that was horrible, haha.

He's monotone, he memorized none of it. Typically when you're writing a letter to the fans like this you don't whine about your sacrifices of waking up early and riding the bus, especially when you're making almost 11M now. It's true, but it's going to rub alot of people the wrong way.

Then the whole diversity bit was about as generic as possible.

Pick the most generic thing about yourself? Check.

Pick the most generic thing about your city? Check.

Deliver it with zero emotion or sincerity? Check.

Im not even mad at Marner. I'm disappointed in both him and Matthews but I get it it. I'm more disappointed with Dubas in the end. That said, go out and play. Post something genuine on your Instagram or something, this just comes across as insincere and phony.

 

[HomerJLeafs]

f*** HIM
f*** HIM
f*** HIM
OhMg iM a HomETownboi And A CHIld My Dad aNd mY aGent Made Do it FEelSorrY foR me
f*** you Mitche$$ f***ing circus all summer long and he still has ferris as an agent so he agrees with the whole f***ing circus
f*** you

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I have no ill will towards Marner. It was part of the process, he didn't miss any games, it is a decent contract in my eyes (wish it was over 8 years however) and he is still one of the best players on the team.

But geez...reading it off a paper? Talk about cheesy. At least if you fumbled words in an unscripted "letter", it'd pass as more genuine.

And that tattoo makes him look like a d-bag.

 

[Drytoast]

**** HIM
**** HIM
**** HIM
OhMg iM a HomETownboi And A CHIld My Dad aNd mY aGent Made Do it FEelSorrY foR me
**** you Mitche$$ ****ing circus all summer long and he still has ferris as an agent so he agrees with the whole ****ing circus
**** you

LOL. You just verbalized my emotions!

 

[Drytoast]

Meh I can accept it. He is going to be worth his money. His comparables are also in line with what he is worth. Guy is going be an absolute stud moving forward. I would have prefered to sign him for 13 mill for 8 yrs personally. He would have to but dubas wanted more money available for mitch to demand it.

Mitch should be around 9 for 6 yrs and that extra money shoulda went to matthews to extend his contract to 8 yrs. thats my opinion at least.

By the time he actually realizes his potential we are paying for RIGHT NOW...(like leading the league in goals like those who are currently doing it at less AAV...)...He will be up for renegotiation.

So there is that.

 

[Rob Brown]

**** HIM
**** HIM
**** HIM
OhMg iM a HomETownboi And A CHIld My Dad aNd mY aGent Made Do it FEelSorrY foR me
**** you Mitche$$ ****ing circus all summer long and he still has ferris as an agent so he agrees with the whole ****ing circus
**** you

I lol'ed.

I wore my Marner jersey to the game on Wednesday cause I felt a bit "off" wearing my Matthews one but I'm not wearing Marner for a while after this.

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

I really want to like Marner but this doesn’t help. Just make passes like that one to Matthews and we’ll all mostly get over it. Stop talking about it, you’re not the good guy in the story.

 

[ToDavid]

He would have been better off posting a short statement on twitter. This whole thing comes off so forced.

I think most people were prepared to move on from worrying about his contract as soon as the season started. Feeding us BS doesn't help.

 

[Leafsman]

"Your support makes us better.

Makes me better"

In other words...

"Your support makes us richer.

Makes me richer"

 

[TheBigThree]

Wow that was horrible, haha.

He's monotone, he memorized none of it. Typically when you're writing a letter to the fans like this you don't whine about your sacrifices of waking up early and riding the bus, especially when you're making almost 11M now. It's true, but it's going to rub alot of people the wrong way.

Then the whole diversity bit was about as generic as possible.

Pick the most generic thing about yourself? Check.

Pick the most generic thing about your city? Check.

Deliver it with zero emotion or sincerity? Check.

Im not even mad at Marner. I'm disappointed in both him and Matthews but I get it it. I'm more disappointed with Dubas in the end. That said, go out and play. Post something genuine on your Instagram or something, this just comes across as insincere and phony.

I don't know who hasn't woke up early in their life to go to work, school or whatever. Problem is we don't make 11 million a year. It was pretty insulting tbh the way marner makes us want to feel sorry for him.

 

[ACC1224]

He does continue to get bad advice.
Nice gesture but he really would have been better off just saying nothing.

 

[93WrapAround]

While I agree that this was cringe/corny and a bad idea, I don't get why fans would hate the kid all of a sudden. It shows a complete lack of understanding for what pro sports - a business. People expect the players to take discounts and cater to the team/fanbase yet the teams and franchises who employ them would NEVER do that, nor is it expected of them by the fanbase. It's hypocrisy, really. Mitch comes out a massive winner in his contract negotiations, yet he is hated for this? He squeezed the most money out of his employer he could have and it's more impressive to me than worthy of hatred. Again, these employers give no ****s for the players and will go to the ends of the Earth to put the franchise and its bottom line over the players every day and twice on Sundays. Good for Mitch. I'm not going to use the business side of the game to fuel my feelings for the kid - his play is the only thing that should do that for me/fans.

 

[dangomon]

I agree with all of this. At least memorize it. This did nothing for me but dislike him more.

It was clear he was reading, which was bad, but who was the cinematographer who decided it would be wise to spend seconds focusing solely on the paper he's holding to emphasize the fact that it's scripted and not memorized?

 

[stewpac]

I've been a fan of marner since his days in London because of the way he plays the game. I don't know a single thing nor do I want to about him off the ice. Here's a pr move for you score a hat trick tonight, Win games and leave it all on the ice.

 

[ACC1224]

It was clear he was reading, which was bad, but who was the cinematographer who decided it would be wise to spend seconds focusing solely on the paper he's holding to emphasize the fact that it's scripted and not memorized?

I think they were trying to highlight that it was hand written, like he wrote it out himself, his thoughts.

 

[egd27]

That was awful. Couldn't he have just made a mixtape/playlist to tell us how sorry he is?

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

When things get this toxic, just say nothing man.