DON'T WRITE US OFF

ALAN SHEARER was sitting safely in a BBC studio. Hull City had just drawn at Liverpool to stay sixth, four points off a Champions League spot.

It was December and Christmas had come early for Phil Brown and his men. Praise fell. Shearer was effusive. Everyone's second-favourite club, good old Hull, defying the odds.

Paul Duffen, the Premier League's newest chairman, rode the wave, went to the glitzy events with his manager, smiled at the camera. But he knew it would end, knew the Premier League would start snarling at his club punching above their weight, knocking a few noses out of joint. Jumped-up little Tigers.

And they did.

"I knew it would go," said Duffen. "The spotlight came on us and it was lovely. But this is an unforgiving league. You beat people and it can change.

"We have had a lot thrown at us since. You have to accept that is sometimes the way it is. The Arsenal incident upset everybody and if you feel hard done by in life it does tend to galvanise the spirit.

"We've got a very good camp, a solid dressing-room with good characters in it. Maybe we are most dangerous when we are written off and in the corner.

"I think it was wonderful and lovely at the start. Not surprisingly, the focus went elsewhere because other clubs were playing higher than we are.

"I don't think we have been hurt by that feeling of goodwill going. We couldn't expect to maintain that level of performance or popularity for an entire season. I have never seen that happen in my life."

Much dirt has been splattered on Hull City since. Some self-imposed - the Marlon King-Dean Windass spat at a Scarborough casino. Some through naïvety - Brown's half-time team talk on the pitch at Manchester City.

And some when they were simply being bullied - the Cesc Fabregas spitting row at the Emirates. Duffen has admirably never wavered.

"My job as chairman is to celebrate when the team wins and to get everyone back on their feet when we suffer a reversal," he added.

PAUL DUFFEN - belief

"If I didn't genuinely feel we could win the games we had left and could stay up, maybe I would have felt more daunted.

"But based on how we played early in the season, based on seeing how the guys train Monday to Friday and the atmosphere on the training-ground, I always thought we could get the points to stay up.

"We genuinely believe we can do it. We are never more dangerous than when we are in a corner. Three years ago we were written off as being relegated out of the Championship. A year ago we weren't fancied for getting promoted to the Premier League.

"People threw stones from outside the greenhouse over the Fabregas affair but we stood our ground and the FA brought charges. We clearly have a sting in our tail."

They have never needed it more. Without the calamitous Newcastle, Hull would be the story of the season - boom to near-bust in a remarkable campaign when few really expected anything other than relentless struggle.

A result against Manchester United that is better than anything Shearer the manager can achieve with Newcastle today will keep the Tigers up.

The alternative remains unthinkable for Duffen, who has not even been in charge at the KC Stadium for two full years.

He insisted: "The prospect of being in the Championship doesn't worry me because I don't look down. When I'm standing on the golf tee I look at the fairway, I don't look at the rough. Wherever you look tends to be where you go.

"I'm only looking at being in the Premier League next season. I'm not thinking about any other alternative. I just focus the club on staying in the Premier League and I believe that's what will happen. If life happens to roll the dice to something else then we will have to deal with it.

"Obviously in terms of running a business prudently, just as last year we had two scenarios, we have two this time. You have to have a contingency plan in life no matter what your beliefs are.

"We have different ideas of what we will do in the summer, but I'm not standing around thinking about it now, that's for sure."

Duffen remains close to Brown. The pair socialise. Those who meet the manager remain surprised by his honesty and likeability.

"I see Phil as my manager here for years to come, absolutely," said Duffen. "I see Phil as a partner in this football club. It needs to be like that. It would be in any other business.

"It is about partnership and support. He has not needed a pick-me-up as such. We are a team."

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