Hull City chairman Paul Duffen resigned on Thursday amid the club's poor start to the English Premier League. Winning just three of its past 32 Premier League matches, Hull lies 18 th in the 20-team league. "Football is a results business and in the same way that I enjoyed the successes of the previous two seasons, so I must take ultimate responsibility for the disappointments of 2009," Duffen said.

Duffen took over for Adam Pearson in 2007 and helped fulfill what he called the "seemingly ridiculous ambition" of taking the club into the Premier League for the first time. After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, however, Hull now faces the real prospect of losing an estimated $37.8 million due to demotion to the second tier.

Rumors have circulated in the British press that Hull manager Phil Brown would get axed following Duffen's exit. But the manager remains, at least for Hull's next game on Saturday. "I think the players are a million percent behind me and hopefully that will show in the performance on Saturday," Brown said. "Unfortunately, the game has and always will be about change. We have to adapt to it and we have to respond to it and, like in a game of football, the quicker you do the better for your team."

 

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