Paul Duffen

Paul Jeremy Duffen (born in Woodford Green, Essex, England, on 31 July 1958) is a British businessman and entrepreneur, whose public profile was most prominent as Chairman of the football club Hull City A.F.C. between 2007 and 2010. Duffen became Chairman of publishing firm Newsdesk Media in June 2011.

Additionally, Duffen sits on the boards of several companies, including Pro-Cure Therapeutics Ltd, a life sciences business based in York and RISC Management Ltd, a London-based security consultancy.

In June 2007, Duffen, in a consortium with majority shareholder Russell Bartlett, purchased Hull City from Adam Pearson for a reported £13 million in June 2007 and replaced him as chairman and chief executive of the football club and the related Stadium Management Company Ltd. The consortium had already made unsuccessful attempts to take over West Ham United and Cardiff City.

When Duffen took control of Hull City the club had just finished 21st in the Championship, narrowly avoiding relegation to League One. He immediately announced the permanent appointment of caretaker manager Phil Brown who had steered the club to Championship survival. During his first summer in charge, Duffen followed through on a pledge to invest in the team with the aim of achieving promotion to the top flight for the first time in the club's history within three years. The million pound signing of striker Caleb Folan from Wigan was the most expensive in the club’s history. Duffen brought in other high earners such as former Nigeria captain and BBC African Footballer of the Year Jay-Jay Okocha and his former Bolton teammate Henrik Pedersen to almost double the club's wage bill. Despite some new funds, the club relied heavily on loan signings to strengthen the squad, most notably Fraizer Campbell who was brought in from Manchester United in October 2007.

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