After NiP’s former coach Clairvoyance, accused them of non-payment of dues, earlier yesterday, NiP has finally responded to these allegations.
Commenting on a Reddit thread, the NiP management stated: “As his letter includes personal attacks on individuals which are inaccurate and not justified, we would like to provide some context to the situation.”
Ninjas in Pyjamas claim that:
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NiP as an organisation has no involvement in the prize cut % decision. That is up to the actual team.
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Initially, several members of the Dota 2 team didn’t want Clairvoyance as their coach after his trial period. However, team captain PPD informed management that they wanted to keep Clairvoyance on board, on a later date.
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The terms of his new contract included a 5% cut of the team prizemoney. But Clairvoyance asked for a 7.5% prizemoney cut for his permanent contract, which the team could not agree to.
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PPD went against the teams’ wishes to offer Clairvoyance a deal to continue as their coach. But Clairvoyance believed that he was getting manipulated by PPD and instead went to the team with a letter which attacked PPD.
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Post which, the team decided that they didn’t want Clairvoyance as their coach no matter what and wanted a better option.
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Subsequently, Clairvoyance decided to threaten several members of NiP of releasing a statement which would paint them in negative light unless it was agreed to give him the cut of the team’s prize money he felt entitled to
The NiP management also stated that they’ve paid Clairvoyance the full amount he was due, earlier yesterday as soon as he submitted the correct invoices.
"Towards the end of last week, Aaron (Clairvoyance) submitted invoices to NiP which included a 7.5% prizemoney cut he wanted from the team on his own initiative. When NiP requested the invoices to be corrected to the actual amounts as there were no prizemoney share agreed, Aaron started threatening team members and NiP with a negative public statement again, unless they agreed to the demands. Aaron Kim later submitted the correct invoice on Sunday the 26th May with the correct amounts to our financial team. The invoice was processed and paid on the morning Monday the 27th May in full according to his contract."
You can read NiP's response in full HERE.
Author’s Opinion:
While Clairvoyance is certainly in the wrong in a few aspects (Blackmailing the team, etc), the fact that NiP admit that they made him work an entire month after his contract expired before deciding on new terms is a damning revelation. But it really isn’t that surprising considering all the contractual issues going around in the esports world over the past few days.
The need for a player/coach union is undeniable, but who is willing to take that first step? That remains to be seen.