Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson said “He wasn’t [Nilsen] going to contribute to us staying up” in a recent interview as the Dons aim to fight off relegation.
Stephen Robinson came out to say if Sivert Heltne Nilsen was to stay at Pittodrie, the Norwegian wouldn’t have been able to contribute to staying up which has gained some disappointment by the Aberdeen support with Robinson also claiming it would be “unfair” to let Nilsen depart.
Nilsen departed the Dons a couple of weeks ago to return to Norway during a time which has been really difficult for Aberdeen as the midfielder left for FK Haugesund.
The 34-year-old made 56 appearances in Red, scoring just two goals for the Pittodrie side.
Many Aberdeen fans have shown disappointment due to the timing of the departure as Nilsen left during a very fragile moment as Aberdeen continue to try and avoid the drop in which was been a horrendous past few months in the Granite City.
Robinson said: “Let me first say, Sivert is a great boy. I loved working with him for that short period of time.
“(But) Sivert hasn’t played a game for… I think he’s started one game in months and months and months, so he wasn’t an integral part of the squad.
“He got a four-year contract and a coaching offer, which was nearly a seven-year contract.
“He made it very, very clear he wanted to go home.
“And sometimes you have to be fair in life.
“And if he wasn’t going to contribute to us staying up in terms of the pitch minutes – and previous suggests he wasn’t going to do that – I think it would have been very, very unfair to say ‘you can stay there and maybe not even be on the bench at stages’.
“So yes, I believe that was the right decision.”
Aberdeen appear to not have many older faces and experience which Nilsen had as the Norwegian was one of the older players within the squad although Robinson is known for playing the youth during in time in Paisley.
After being questioned on whether Aberdeen need to look into some more experienced faces: “There’s a little bit of disparity in the squad, of course.
“That’s not something I can focus on right now. I have to get the best I possibly can out of what’s available.
“And then we’ll worry about it in the summer.
“But yes, I certainly take your point on that, yes.
“Well, we do that anyway.”
