T1 fans are just too spoilt
T1 Fans Demand Head Coach To Be Fired - Again
T1 fans have been really upset with their coaching staff as of late, and it seems like they are trying to push the coaches out of the organization, but why exactly are they demanding these changes? Was their recent success not good enough? And how will T1 respond?
Despite the recent success of T1 - flawless spring split, MSI 2022 runner-up and 12 - 2 so far in the summer split - fans are still upset with the team and are demanding some radical changes. Not to the players, but to the coaching staff. Let's take a look at their demands.
What Changes Do T1 Fans Want?
Apparently, T1 fans aren't happy, and this has been the case for quite some time now. Despite their successes in recent times, fans have been upset with two particular areas of the team: Pick-Ban and Communication. In order to provoke a response from T1, the biggest fan community sent a demand letter to the organization, where they also gave T1 a date to respond by. Something like a ransom demand when a hostage has been taken... So what were the demands?
Top 5 LCK Pros in 2022
T1 has to recruit a verified former player coach that can give meaningful feedback
Fans are demanding more communication from the coaches to the players. But not only to the players, but to the fans too, and this became a big thing, when T1 coach 'Moment' started evading questions about the MSI 2022 final. Instead of acknowledging the loss, and giving some feedback, he just evaded all the questions regarding the matter. This shifted the blame from the coach to the players, which made a lot of fans unhappy, since their trust in the coaches diminished.
Fans also believe that 'Moment' was not fulfilling his duties as a coach, not only in dealing with the aftermath, but moreover when it came to opponent analysis, in-game preparation and strategies, the approach was lack lustre and insufficient.
Recruit a coach that can vigorously prepare the overall strategies
T1's pick-ban strategy has come under a lot of fire recently. They either draft something that relies on immaculate execution or they just play comfort picks, which both can have its merits and work, but if you want to beat Gen. G, you're going to have to go another way. But fans don't only want this coach to improve the pick-ban during the games, they also want this coach to lift a burden from the players. Coaches are supposed to do a lot of prep work, so the players don't have to all the heavy lifting.
This coach is also there, so the players don't burn out from all the work. Fans think that the T1 players often have to come up with strategies, making the coaches basically a useless part of the team. This burden is supposed to fall on a coach, and not on the players themselves.
Speaking of Korea, let's take a look at something more positive from the country:
Active communication with the fans and a clear vision
Fans also want more communication from T1 toward the fans. They mentioned that the 'Rivals Talk', which was held by the T1 CEO Joe Marsh, was only held in English, even though T1 is a Korean team, based in South-Korea, which doesn't make any sense if you think about it. They also feel like T1 is beginning to ignore the local fans, since their events are held at dawn, which is a very unreasonable time for the Korean fans.
The second point was the lack of vision given to the fans. The fans want to see and be part of T1's vision, which should include a blueprint like "how to win worlds 2022" and "how to close out the summer split 2022".
Those were the demands that were written in the letter. Even though demanded a response from T1 by the 29th of July, the teams hasn't said anything yet. So fans have decided to go at this in a more radical way.
T1 fans sending 'protest truck' to game
Since the demand letter didn't invoke a response from T1, some fans decided to rent a truck, to deliver a... well, not so delicate message. This truck will be located outside of the game, when T1 is set to play against HLE, on the 4th of August 2022.
"Incompetent head coach. Coach who've demoted agreed his lackage of ability. The answer is: Hire coaches who won Worlds."
Those are the words inscribed on this truck, making the fan's intentions very clear. It looks like the movement behind the coaches changes is gaining some momentum, but it seems highly unlikely that T1 budges into these demands. Though, we should expect an answer at some point in time, especially if this 'movement' continues.
What do you think? Is it time for a coaching change at T1, or should we wait until the summer split has passed? Curious to see, if the fans change their minds, should T1 win the summer split. I guess, we just have to wait and see.