Hull City have suffered the swings and roundabouts of outrageous fortune both on and off the field in the last fortnight.   They picked up four points out of nine from home fixtures with EPL leaders Chelsea and moneybags Manchester City, and this week’s visit to fellow-strugglers Blackburn.   But the points came from a draw with Chelsea and an unexpected victory over City, while defeat at Blackburn dragged them back into the relegation mire.   Off the field, the Tigers were able to resist late January transfer window efforts from Wolverhampton Wanderers to prise away influential Irish international midfielder Stephen Hunt.

However, the Tigers have received an FA fine for “failing to control their players” during their match against Arsenal at the Emirates in December.

Steven Mouyokolo’s first-half header gave Hull the lead against Chelsea, only for a trademark Didier Drogba free-kick just before half-time to deny the Tigers a famous victory.

However, that victory arrived days later. Jozy Altidore’s first-ever EPL goal and George Boateng’s best-ever EPL goal gave Hull a 2-0 lead over Manchester City, who could only manage a solitary Emmanuel Adebayor strike in return.

The Tigers’ luck ran out at Blackburn, however, as they fell to an early Martin Olsson goal and saw Boateng erroneously sent-off after an accidental clash of heads with Rovers’ Morten Gamst Pedersen.

The defeat leaves manager Phil Brown’s men one point above the bottom three, having played at least one more game than all surrounding teams.

Hull turned down a £5m offer from Wolves for Hunt, a move which would have made one of Hunt’s last acts in a Tigers’ shirt the penalty he converted in the late January 2-2 draw at the KC Stadium with…Wolves.

The Humbersiders had reportedly been willing to accept offers for any of their players in an attempt to reduce debts.

But a club deadline day statement read: “The Club have received a verbal offer of £5m for Stephen Hunt. This has been completely rejected.”

The club also issued a statement this week “regarding Mr Paul Duffen.” It read: “Regarding legal action commenced against its former CEO, we are pleased to confirm that we have agreed settlement on terms satisfactory to the Club (which) brings to an end all disputes between the parties.”

Hull instigated legal proceedings against Duffen last month after it was alleged that the former chairman, who resigned last October, had used club money for personal expenditure and other unspecified “wrongdoings” and breached his “fiduciary duties” through his financial dealings with agents.

The club have been fined £40,000 by the FA for their part in an unseemly kerfuffle – described in an FA statement as “a mass confrontation between players from both sides” - which erupted during their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal a week before Christmas. Arsenal received a £20,000 sanction.

Brown had described the FA charge as “scandalous.” Both clubs have “been warned as to their future conduct.”