Tom Anselmi and MLSE

[Justin]

Now that the Burke firing is setting in we can start to look at it from different angles. Namely, the way it was handled by MLSE. This was the first time Anselmi (Peddie's replacement) has really been in the forefront of the public eye. He's given some radio interviews in the past and had his name has popped up around the Toronto FC, but this was really the first time we Leafs fans got to see him in action. I didn't like what I saw in the slightest. Remember, Anselmi is the guy who was in charge of the disaster that is the TFC from day 1, a team that just hired its 8th head coach in 7 years.

Anselmi acted today like he was a puppet of the owners. He tried his best to dance around questions, didn't give straightforward answers, and spoke very corporate-like. He kept on referring to the "board of directors" and "shareholders," as if that's something fans of a pro sports team want to hear. Ultimately though, he failed to say why Burke was fired. He cited "tone of leadership" and the fact that the owners thought they and Burke couldn't have a "long-term relationship" but he still failed to explain himself. Bob Mccown interviewed Anselmi and pretty much eviscerated him for not answering questions. You tell by the change in Mccown's tone over the interview, he was definitely getting annoyed.

As I alluded to earlier, Anselmi looked like a puppet of the owners. I may be criticizing him for not answering questions and speaking very corporate-like but he's obviously acting on orders from his bosses. Thing is, where are his bosses? Where was Nadir Mohamed or George Cope? Why was Larry Tannenbaum refusing to answer questions over in New York? The veil of secrecy is disconcerting. When you have a 1-man owner like Mark Cuban or Terry Pegula what you see is what you get; you know exactly who they are and what they're all about. But with this MLSE board of directors, Leaf fans have no idea. There's many questions left unanswered about our ownership group. Where were they? Why were they hiding today?

We can debate whether Burke deserved to fired or if it was the right time to fire him ad nauseum. Regardless, what we saw today was a corporate puppet refusing to answer tough questions, an ownership group in hiding, and inadequate reasoning given for the firing of the President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Thanks MLSE.

 

[Kin]

He tried his best to dance around questions, didn't give straightforward answers, and spoke very corporate-like.

It's almost as if he were the President of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

 

[Justin]

He tried his best to dance around questions, didn't give straightforward answers, and spoke very corporate-like.

It's almost as if he were the President of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

The fans deserve answers. Anselmi, acting on the orders of his faceless bosses, refused to give any. Burke got fired with pretty much no explanation.

 

[Bullfrog]

Why do we deserve answers?

 

[Frank E]

He tried his best to dance around questions, didn't give straightforward answers, and spoke very corporate-like.

It's almost as if he were the President of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

The fans deserve answers. Anselmi, acting on the orders of his faceless bosses, refused to give any. Burke got fired with pretty much no explanation.

You know, the only guy he reports to is the board of directors.

Sometimes we fans start to think these guys have a responsibility to answer any questions about the internal politics and decision making processes that we throw at them.  They don't.  We'd like them to, but they really don't.

This Toronto Maple Leafs team that we like to follow is now a billion dollar company that people actually paid money for.  So they're kind of a big deal, and aren't really concerned with the odd fan getting upset for a couple of hours because he didn't get a clear enough answer about why they decided to make a personnel change.

 

[AvroArrow]

You mad bro?

 

[Kin]

The fans deserve answers. Anselmi, acting on the orders of his faceless bosses, refused to give any. Burke got fired with pretty much no explanation.

If Coca-Cola fired their President, and you were a lifelong drinker of their soda, drank 8 a day, would you feel like you deserved input or answers on their corporate restructuring?

It's not great but the basic reality is that the Toronto Maple Leafs are not a public trust. They're part of a private corporation. Buying their product doesn't entitle us to jack.

 

[Justin]

Why do we deserve answers?

You don't strangely fire a guy right before the season starts and give no explanation. Because of this we have the media and fans playing a guessing game speculating as to why Burke was fired and why now. MLSE couldn't cite lack of results because if that was the case they would have fired him at the end of last season. Instead Anselmi mentioned Burke's "tone of leadership" and the absence of a feeling that ownership and GM can carry out a "long-term relationship." Please. Be honest and tell the fans what really happened. I don't like the way MLSE handled this at all.

 

[Kin]

MLSE couldn't cite lack of results because if that was the case they would have fired him at the end of last season.

Unless, perhaps, the people who own the team didn't own the team at the end of last season.

 

[Justin]

MLSE couldn't cite lack of results because if that was the case they would have fired him at the end of last season.

Unless, perhaps, the people who own the team didn't own the team at the end of last season.

The deal was finalized over the summer. They had months to fire Burke, so why now? It just seems like a snap decision. Burke was out scouting last night; today he was fired. Nonis himself was completely shocked, and he was appointed GM without even being interviewed for the job. MLSE didn't put the interim tag on him, they just gave him the keys to the biggest castle in hockey. General managers NEVER get fired right before the season starts. It's lunacy. Us fans are lead to believe, and many media people are saying this as well, that there was an internal conflict they're not telling us about. The Burke firing wasn't hockey, it was personal.

 

[Jay-Mar]

In my opinion MLSE wanted Burkie to fall into the John Ferguson mold of doing what they wanted and he simply refused. In 4 years at the helm our minor league team finally has some players to get excited about after the disaster that Fergie left this under and the rebuild can begin to take shape.

 

[Bullfrog]

Why do we deserve answers?

You don't strangely fire a guy right before the season starts and give no explanation. Because of this we have the media and fans playing a guessing game speculating as to why Burke was fired and why now. MLSE couldn't cite lack of results because if that was the case they would have fired him at the end of last season. Instead Anselmi mentioned Burke's "tone of leadership" and the absence of a feeling that ownership and GM can carry out a "long-term relationship." Please. Be honest and tell the fans what really happened. I don't like the way MLSE handled this at all.

Not saying this is the case, but what if it was for some sensitive indiscretion? What if he got fired because he told his bosses to shove their heads up their rear-ends? You don't air this stuff personally.

I find your sense of entitlement puzzling. Why he was fired is really none of our business unless they want to make it our business.

 

[Zee]

MLSE couldn't cite lack of results because if that was the case they would have fired him at the end of last season.

Unless, perhaps, the people who own the team didn't own the team at the end of last season.

The deal was finalized over the summer. They had months to fire Burke, so why now? It just seems like a snap decision. Burke was out scouting last night; today he was fired. Nonis himself was completely shocked, and he was appointed GM without even being interviewed for the job. MLSE didn't put the interim tag on him, they just gave him the keys to the biggest castle in hockey. General managers NEVER get fired right before the season starts. It's lunacy. Us fans are lead to believe, and many media people are saying this as well, that there was an internal conflict they're not telling us about. The Burke firing wasn't hockey, it was personal.

That's all behind the scenes stuff that we as the fans may never find out, or may find out in YEARS from now when someone writes a book.  There's probably some truth to what Anselmi said about this being talked about for months, but I agree something must have precipitated this from Tuesday to Wednesday to have it go down like it did.  In the end it really doesn't matter, Nonis is a capable GM, it's not as if we've put some nobody in the top job, he was the heir apparent to Burke when and if Burke stepped down or was thrown out.  Burke's stubbornness in some of his decisions, and his loyalty to Ron Wilson were probably what ultimately led to his failure here.  That being said, there are some nice younger players in the organization now, let's hope Nonis can pull it all together.

 

[Kin]

The deal was finalized over the summer. They had months to fire Burke, so why now?

With the end of the lockout attention turned towards hockey and conflict clearly arose when discussions were had with Burke and the new board. If Burke had a better record as GM, he'd probably have been protected from the fallout but with a record of failure and a personality conflict then he was DOA.

 

[maplesyrup]

The deal was finalized over the summer. They had months to fire Burke, so why now?

With the end of the lockout attention turned towards hockey and conflict clearly arose when discussions were had with Burke and the new board. If Burke had a better record as GM, he'd probably have been protected from the fallout but with a record of failure and a personality conflict then he was DOA.

The board as it sits now (as I understand it) wasn't actually complete until recently.

 

[Joe S.]

MLSE couldn't cite lack of results because if that was the case they would have fired him at the end of last season.

Unless, perhaps, the people who own the team didn't own the team at the end of last season.

The deal was finalized over the summer. They had months to fire Burke, so why now? It just seems like a snap decision. Burke was out scouting last night; today he was fired. Nonis himself was completely shocked, and he was appointed GM without even being interviewed for the job. MLSE didn't put the interim tag on him, they just gave him the keys to the biggest castle in hockey. General managers NEVER get fired right before the season starts. It's lunacy. Us fans are lead to believe, and many media people are saying this as well, that there was an internal conflict they're not telling us about. The Burke firing wasn't hockey, it was personal.

You say they had months to fire Burke and it was a snap decision. You see how that doesn't make sense? More than likely, they took that time to evaluate their decision.

Furthermore, being a consumer does not entitle you to anything. The only power you have is to choose to either spend, or not spend your money on their product.

 

[Tigger]

From what I've read this wasn't really a snap decision, it started with the meetings back in August and dissatisfaction with Burke at the time.

If they want something more corporate to represent their shiny new toy, have at it, but it raises my hackles and furthers my disinterest.

 

[Corn Flake]

He tried his best to dance around questions, didn't give straightforward answers, and spoke very corporate-like.

It's almost as if he were the President of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

The fans deserve answers. Anselmi, acting on the orders of his faceless bosses, refused to give any. Burke got fired with pretty much no explanation.

I got all the answers I needed reading between the lines of what Anselmi said in the subsequent interviews he gave yesterday.  MLSE doesn't owe you or I any kind of explanation, unfortunately. 

When questioned last night on the Fan, it was pretty obvious to me that it really did come down to a conflict with the board.  He started by calling it "leadership style" but then called it "personality" and ensued it was more between him and people above him than Burke and people below him.  If they didn't believe in the Burke plan at all they would not have given the job to Nonis.

The only details we don't know (but are provided rumors from media) are who on the board pushed for his demise, what finally pushed him over the hump this week because if it was an instant thing he probably would have been gone by October, and whether or not going forward this board wants to have more say in the hockey ops side of things, but we will find that one out in due time.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

From what I've read this wasn't really a snap decision, it started with the meetings back in August and dissatisfaction with Burke at the time.

If they want something more corporate to represent their shiny new toy, have at it, but it raises my hackles and furthers my disinterest.

I agree. I think I'm in line with Damien Cox on this, which is hard to say to begin with, but, he said that Burke should have been given more time to see the moves he made come to fruition.

Ultimately, I don't think this was in any way about hockey, it was Burke's demeanor that they didn't like and it's their prerogative to make this change. I just feel that it was the wrong one for the Leafs as a hockey team.

 

[Justin]

From what I've read this wasn't really a snap decision, it started with the meetings back in August and dissatisfaction with Burke at the time.

If they want something more corporate to represent their shiny new toy, have at it, but it raises my hackles and furthers my disinterest.

Someone wrote today, can't remember if it was Mirtle or Cox, that Cope wanted Burke gone from the start and made that known in meetings in August. Tannenbaum and Rogers were unwilling to play ball at the time, and it was only now that Cope finally convinced them and got his way.