aLive, coach Lee speak out on the Fnatic-TSL conflict

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Photos by: Thisisgame.com, PlayXP.com

Few hours after the dispute between Team SCV Life and Team Fnatic became publicly known, TSL coach Woon Jae Lee came out with a statement of his own regarding the situation. "If they continue to deny the truth and refuse to apologize, I am willing to come forth with evidence," commented Lee.

The story of the teams' conflict began when TSL administration accused the foreign team of snatching Korean terran player aLive, bypassing TSL's coach Lee and thus "not going through the proper channels". Fnatic manager Elroy Pinto came forth with an official statement, refuting these charges and saying that aLive had left TSL on its own volition and that, in fact, they had not officially signed him since that would breach his contract with the Korean team. The whole situation was made more complicated by an ongoing negotiations about a TSL-Fnatic cooperation - a deal that, according to coach Lee, was about to be made official but was cut off just prior to the departure of aLive.

Hours after the incident became publicly known, coach Lee talked to Gamechosun for a second time and presented arguments against Fnatic's statement. According to Lee, aLive talked to Fnatic translator Brian Choi about loopholes that could have been exploited to aid his transfer. A way to bypass the coach was also discussed.

Coach Lee:

The player is most at fault, so I don't want relations with Fnatic to grow any worse," said coach Lee. "I haven't heard a single word of apology from Fnatic regarding the canceled partnership or this row with Alive. Also, they made an announcement that was completely untrue. If they continue to deny the truth and refuse to apologize, I am willing to come forth with evidence.

He further added:

I feel very betrayed, but I hope this doesn't affect his play. I didn't want this to come out before his GSL games, so I'm sorry it came to be this way... ...I've spent over 6,000,000 won on just his foreign tournament participation. That's how much I valued him as a player, so how could I let this issue pass over easily? It's like being in a nightmare.

To get a chances to express his point of view himself, Thisisgame.com approached aLive to hear his take on the matter. The Korean terran admitted that there were things he did do wrong, namely getting in touch with Fnatic before first approaching Woon Jae Lee. However, aLive denied any claims of double contracting, confirming the words said in Elroy Pinto's statement.

aLive:

I said I wanted to talk to the Fnatic manager on Monday, and I talked about more details with the translator hyung. After that, Coach Lee said he wanted to talk to me. He had printed out my conversation with the Fnatic manager. That skype conversation was logged on my computer, and I’m curious as to how he got access to it. But still, I knew that I had fault in this so I acknowledged those parts and I asked for his understanding and apologized.

It also becomes apparent that aLive had the desire to leave the team since the departure of Clide, JYP and Killer in November. aLive further explains that he is required to pay a fee of breaching the contract in the amount of 10,000,000 KRW (approx. 6,850 EUR). In addition, the Terran player expressed his desire for the conflict to be resolved as quick as possible, even if he would have to take matter in his own hands.

Worst comes to worst, just as Coach Lee said in his article, I am thinking about taking this to the law. But if possible, I want to end this on as much of a good note as possible. Unfortunately the situation has already worsened so much. I just want to pay the penalty fee and get it over with.

As usual, we will keep you updated on the case.