Why should widness put up any competition this year at all? I mean they have 3 years so what's the rush? Let them play a year absorb the sky money then buy some players for season 2 be a slightly better side then buy in more players for season 3.

I was under the impression that the 3 years system was to give teams moving up time to build and not have to borrow to their eyeballs to survive season by season. Surely the whole Widness argument is nonsense they don't need to be competitive until their 3rd season.

Do you understand the concept of being a fan? Pay £180 for a Stronghold season membership (or however much it is) and then watch your team not give a crap until year two, maybe year three.

Smooth.

You've nailed it!

I don't think this is Cullen saying anything profound about the state of the game; rather, it strikes me as a PR exercise aimed at a) appeasing Widnes fans and b) keeping his job.

Widnes have a squad at least as good as 3 or 4 teams around them; they're just badly coached and poorly managed.

You might want to check the criteria. They look at average positions over all three years, so finishing bottom 2 years out of 3 isn't a plan designed to win a new licence.

This sounds far too simple and logical for any SL criterea that has been in previous years.