BLEED team coach Aleksandar "kassad" Trifunović discussed the mistakes made by the management of the Falcons organization. In a podcast on TechGirlZA's YouTube channel, the Serbian esports professional explained how the club mishandled the purchase of a BLAST slot and the failed transfer of Nikola "NiKo" Kovač.
"They did everything wrong and continue to make mistakes. Even now, they don't have a stable roster. The team loses more often than it wins. <...> They have zero achievements, didn't qualify for the Major, and couldn't show decent play at ESL Pro League. <...> Fortunately for them, they bought a BLAST slot, but even that was a mistake.
Falcons should have signed NiKo, but he changed his mind for one simple reason – because he wouldn't be able to play in ESL and BLAST tournaments under the Falcons tag. And then they bought a BLAST slot. They could have told [NiKo] that they were buying a BLAST slot, so he'd have half the tournaments. They might have had to sacrifice a couple of ESL events – and those likely wouldn't have been IEM Katowice or IEM Cologne. Maybe IEM Dallas and something else. And it would have been fine.
NiKo's salary was supposed to be $60,000. That's crazy! He would have had to miss a couple of tournaments that wouldn't have mattered in the long run, but he would have joined the team he wanted, earned much more money, and been much happier. Look at NiKo now – he doesn't look happy.
Falcons messed up. They bought a BLAST slot, but NiKo stayed with G2. Basically, the money was wasted. Why, if you don't even have a complete team?"
Kassad also revealed the average salary Falcons players receive and criticized the organization's management for destabilizing the Counter-Strike transfer market.
"They paid no less than a million dollars for SunPayus. His real value is maybe $200,000. $250,000 at most! Yes, he's a good sniper, but he's not worth a million dollars. m0NESY was worth $600,000 at the time. SunPayus is a good player, but he's not a superstar. A million dollars is the price for a superstar. Only God knows how much they paid for Snappi. Maybe $200,000-300,000. <...>
As far as I know, the average salary at Falcons is $35,000-38,000. That's crazy money. Why pay such amounts? There's no need. You already have robl and zonic – people will come to you anyway. <...>
The club inflated and destabilized the entire transfer market. First, they bought SunPayus for a million, then Jabbi and stavn for $2 million! Now agents come and say, 'I want $25,000 for my player who is worth $7,000.' Deals fall apart, teams break up, people lose their jobs, results aren't achieved, and money just burns away. They ruined everything.".
The Falcons team finished 9th-12th at IEM Dallas 2024, reached the top 4 at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024, and finished ESL Pro League in 21st-28th place. They failed to qualify for the Copenhagen Major.