NIP GM: We have the resources to maintain a top-5 lineup
In an interview with Pley.gg, General Manager of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Björn "THREAT" Pers talks about the future of the NIP roster, and how his experience as a coach has shaped his view on the coaching role on NIP.
You have to scroll a long way down the recent results from the Tier-1 tournaments in CS2 and CS:GO to find any wins for the legendary Swedish organization. The results have not matched the ambitions of the 2014 ESL One Cologne Major winners, whose fans have seen their fair share of disappointing results in the last many years.
To turn things around, the Swedes signed their old coach Björn "THREAT" Pers in a new position as the General Manager of NIP in September last year. In our article from yesterday, you can read more about his vision for the team, and how he views the future of the roster.
As a successful coach in the past, Björn "THREAT" Pers is entering the role as a GM with another perspective than most of his colleagues on the scene, which has given him one particular insight into how to build a team the correct way.
- It’s very, very important for me now, that each coach for each team, we have Niels Christian "NaToSaphiX" Sillassen for Impact, we have Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan for Young Ninjas, and we have Richard "Xizt" Landström now for the main team, that they own the team. I can come in and say that I disagree with a decision, but they will have the final word. They can throw me out of the bootcamp if they don’t want me there, because it’s their team, right? And that is what I learned from being a head coach myself. That is the only way I can hold them responsible for the results.
Q: Do they also own the decision of who is coming in?
- I would never put a player in the team, that they disagree with. But if we could get Danil "donk" Kryshkovets and Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut in the team, and Xizt said that he disagreed, then I would probably judge Xizt and say, that he is not a very good coach, Pers said laughing.
Former Heroic coach, Richard "Xizt" Landström was signed last month as the new head coach for Ninjas in Pyjamas.
A big budget
The first signing of Richard "Xizt" Landström and Björn "THREAT" Pers was the 19-year-old Young Ninjas player Max "maxster" Jansson. Perhaps not a blockbuster signing that some fans of NIP had hoped for. But it is not the lack of money that has forced the NIP organization to sign one of their own players to the main team. According to their own “letter to the fans” post on NIP’s website, the company has a “strong financial position”.
We asked the NIP GM, what kind of budget he has to work with.
- Seeing how much other teams spend on their lineup, I think we have the resources to maintain a Top 5 lineup. The resources would not be the limitation it would rather be our poor decision-making.
In the past NIP has been willing to spend big on players, that they thought could make a difference most famously Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, who was transferred from Astralis in 2021.
“We are putting pressure on ourselves to perform much sooner”
Ninjas in Pyjamas has lately been very open about the current situation at the team, and what they are aiming for in the future. The fresh new way to communicate has also backfired multiple times in the community, which NIP’s leadership has come to realize after they released a behind-the-scenes video, where a deadline of January 2025 was mentioned. A date when NIP’s team needed to be competitive again.
- We were simply referring to the date set by Valve, where they are changing the franchise leagues. So that will disappear in January. And at that point, you have to be a good team to play tournaments and that’s what we’re referring to. Obviously, we are putting pressure on ourselves to perform much sooner than that.
Q: And what would competitive mean to you?
- Being competitive is making playoffs. Not all the time, because you can easily lose in an MR12 match in a group stage match, but we want to be competitive again. We have barely made any playoffs recently, and that needs to change.
First up for Björn "THREAT" Pers and NIP will be to assemble the five-man roster, that they believe is going to be the future of the team. The plan is to have the new team ready for the upcoming tournaments in April, where NIP is playing the Skyesports Master 2024 and at ESL Pro League Season 19.
