Was a draw wasn’t it?

Does he have any involvement at the club now? Other ham handing out the odd player jersey for debuts / landmark appearance?

I wrote it at about 5am. It's probably all bollox.

The time is irrelevant.

Just messing, your input recently has been mostly good.

We shouldn’t underestimate his little-known work for the Warrington Clandestine Services either. He went undercover as an agent over enemy lines and helped prevent any potential uprising of Widnes RLFC

I thought Cullen was a great bloke who did so much for the club. I thought he was unlucky with injuries (but my memory can't allow me to be specific) to key players.
I was disgusted with how he was treated (by certain sections of the crowd) at the end of his reign. I hated the "boo boys" and the idea that you pay yer money therefore you can hurl abuse. I remember well (as does Paul Cullen) the interception try by Luke Dorn which sealed his fate.

I remember it as the outragious slow motion pass Monaghan.

It is often forgotten that Monaghan played scrum half when he arrived. He gave a few interception tries away.
Superb hooker.

Just to challenge the beatification. Idolised him as a player (still do) but never rated him as a coach. Win ratio of 42% put's him way down the list of Warrington coaches who could have only dreamt of the finances available. A year at Widnes before being moved aside for Denis Betts to never coach again.

Interesting post to look back on Sally. Obviously the involvement of SJM and his backing was massive for us at a time when it looked like we could be going to the wall at Wilderspool but Cullen deserves much credit.

The Anderson and Plange era was the most depressing and desperate time of watching the Wire in 40+ years for me. We were woeful and couldn’t buy a win until Cullen came in and saved us when relegation seemed a certainty for me. Was it wins over Castleford and Halifax?

We watched some great players under Cullen and some not so good but i think it was a definite turning point in Wire history. I will be forever grateful to him that we wasn’t relegated in 2002.

Also James Lowes proved that money alone doesn’t get you very far post Cullen. Tony Smith was the first world class coach we ever had in my opinion and I’m hopeful that Steve Price can be the second.

Youth development probably wasn’t the best under the Cullen era and he decided to buy in good young players with potential from other clubs but maybe it was needs must at the time. I’m hopeful that is being addressed now with the likes of Livett, Philbin & Patton.

It is often overlooked that Cullen won two games in 2002, whereas under Plange we won five. Including Leeds and Hull away. I'd suggest some gratitude is extended his way.

But in truth what really saved us from relegation was the signings of Nathan Wood, Ben Westwood, Danny Halliwell and Richie Mathers mid-season. Without them we would have been down for sure.

Didn't Tony Smith sign Mathers ,a few months after after Richie nearly decapitated Matt King ?

I wonder if scrum half signings weren't his undoing? Sullivan (Dick Turpin if ever I saw one) and Monaghan. Both clearly hookers but allowed to dictate where they played (as I understand it).
I know there was a lot more to his demise than that though.
For me the best part of Cullen was that when we passed the ball more than once in a move, or in heavy traffic, I wasn't watching through my fingers expecting us to stuff up.
It was an interesting ride and with hindsight he stayed a little bit too long. Still look fondly on his reign though, whereas I don't suppose Saints fans can think of ANYTHING positive to say about their former player as a coach , take a bow Mr Cunningham.

Didn't we have Mathers on loan before that?

Ps great post SC

Halliwell and Mathers were loan signings in 2002.