Cover Image Courtesy: Ninjas in Pyjamas
Hicham Chahine CEO, Ninjas in Pyjamas took to Twitter to share a blog which NiP has posted on their website titled ‘Response To Interview With Former NIP Player’. This article that NiP has published today, is a reply to all the accusations made towards it by the former NiP player, Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson on the Richard Lewis Show.
As the current NiP management team, it's our goal to learn from the past and treat players and staff with respect. A few thoughts on recent questions from the community: https://t.co/uTVOZ6wUm9 pic.twitter.com/kyRmDIh8Ju
— Hicham Chahine (@ChahineHicham) July 24, 2019
The article states that the organization wanted to take some time to provide a thoughtful response to this ‘online discussion’ while ensuring that everyone had the full context.
They have also provided some background details to some of the issues that have been raised in the past week, explaining to everyone the state of NiP’s leadership before and after 2016.
While talking about their leadership and situation between 2013-16 they state that NiP and Diglife, the investment company brought on to help with the team's management financially, operated separately without any day-to-day involvement from the latter. They shared no payment sources for the players and there was no involvement by Diglife while negotiating player contracts, player demands or handling resignation letters.
While Diglife was no way associated with anything, the day-to-day management of the team created a perception that Diglife was the one behind every unpopular decision of theirs leading to misconduct and wrongdoings.
Then they describe the current management team which came into existence in June 2016, after which everyone had learned that strict oversight was required and that all pending commitments to players and partners needed to be resolved. So they went ahead and paid the players any due amounts, started clearing things with the Swedish tax authorities and also began a review process of all their legal documents. These changes in their documentation were implemented on all new contracts, starting at the end of 2016.
No clear answer was provided as to who took the charity money for Go4Balkan event or where it went. All they said was that the PayPal account in question was never created, accessed or owned by anyone in the current management team of NiP.
Finally, they go on to state that they have already settled all financial obligations with Fifflaren on 20th September 2016, after they received his invoice four days earlier. They go on to state that they even offered him a position within the organization to work with the teams in 2017. But what position was offered to him wasn’t stated.
Hicham Chahine CEO, Ninjas in Pyjamas, concludes by saying the following,
“As an organization, it’s our goal that NiP isn’t just known as a legacy brand in esports but a team that treats everyone who works with us with respect and fair treatment. We’ll continue to talk openly and honestly with our players and fans about these, and any outstanding issues, but ask that anyone else that feels mistreated by the organization in the past give us a chance to address their concerns.”