Duffen dismisses Brown links

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Brown was immediately listed among the favourites for the post at Sunderland following Roy Keane's resignation on Thursday and continues to be linked with the Black Cats despite denying interest.

"I think the speculation is totally inevitable," Duffen told PA Sport. "You have got a guy who was born in the territory and a football club with a vacancy."

Brown's reputation has soared over the past year after guiding Hull into the Barclays Premier League and overseeing a superb start to life in the top flight.

As a boyhood Sunderland fan, he also has an obvious connection to the Wearside club but he recently signed a new contract tying him to Hull until 2011 and Duffen insists he is going nowhere.

Duffen added: "Phil is an incredibly successful manager and he is very talented, so it is inevitable that people are going to link him to any job that is vacant, especially when there is a geographic connection.

"He is contracted to the club for three years and he is in the middle of a project that has just begun.

"It is a great adventure, a journey that he is enjoying and he has got an opportunity most managers never have to build a big football club.

"We're actually rather disappointed he was only third or fourth favourite for the Sunderland job because that certainly underestimates his abilities!

"He is a fantastic guy, a great manager and he is very busy doing what he is doing and enjoying it."