Paul Cullen, one of Whitehaven’s most popular coaches of modern times, is coming back to the club.

But it’s not in a coaching capacity as he will be the special guest at the Haven vice-presidents' night on Friday, July 6.

Organiser Des Byrne said: “It promises to be a belter of a night, given how popular Paul was during his time in charge at the club.

"We’ve also got Stuart Harvey, the man heading the consortium trying to takeover the club, as another guest on the night.”

Cullen, now 55, played 348 games for Warrington at the top level and later spent six years as the Wolves’ coach.

He moved on to join Widnes and, after coaching for 18 months, "moved upstairs" to be director of rugby. He left the club in 2012.

But it was his time in charge of Whitehaven which endeared him to the west Cumbrian fans as he arrived at the Recreation Ground in September 2000, taking over from Kevin Tamati.

This heralded a successful period for Whitehaven as the club made steady progress and earned a place in National League One for 2003.

He left in August 2002 to coach Warrington and was replaced by Steve McCormack.

Meanwhile, Harvey, the man currently hoping to take control at the club, might have a better idea tonight on his chances after a shareholders meeting.

One of Harvey’s initiatives will be a link-up with Red Star Belgrade, who have just convincingly won their second Serbian Challenge Cup.

They were 56-6 victors over arch rivals Partizan at the Makis Stadium, Belgrade, to maintain their unbeaten run in 2018.

The Red and Whites were too strong, building a 34-6 half-time lead, scoring six tries in the process.

After an even start, Partizan’s Serbian international Pero Madzarevic was sin-binned in the 25th minute and, in his absence, Red Star raced from a ten-point lead to an unassailable 28-0 advantage, with Jack O’Brien and former Scotland Under-20 international Sam Harron both scoring twice to add to tries from Stefan Nedeljkovic and Milos Calic.

SRL top points scorer Vladimir Milutinovic’s converted try just before the break proved to be only solace for Partizan.

Red Star went on to complete a fourth successive derby victory going into the summer break.