Widnes chairman Steve O'Connor has delivered his backing to the Super League licensing system that enabled his club to reclaim their place in the top flight.
Licensing was introduced in 2009 to replace automatic promotion and relegation and Salford and Celtic Crusaders were chosen to join an expanded 14-team competition after the governing body decided they had submitted the best bids.
Since then Widnes worked tirelessly to strengthen their case and, O'Connor said: "I was always a fan of the licensing system. I think it's the right way to go. There are elements that other sports can learn from."
He added: "I think the club going up and taking all the players from the club coming down was destined to fail and promoting a team in October doesn't give them time to recruit.
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"I know that the decisions taken here the last time Widnes were in Super League were 'anything to stay up' and you can't nurture talent in that sort of environment.
"The licensing system allows us to experiment a little bit more. If we were in a simple promotion and relegation (system) it would be very difficult to blood some of those youngsters.
"We think we have some very exciting talent here and it will be great to allow them to play on the top stage."
O'Connor says Widnes intend to spend up to the £1.65million salary cap to make them competitive and a tentative, unsuccessful approach to Australia captain Darren Lockyer was a sign of their ambitions.
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