Hull City captain Lewie Coyle says he feels partially responsible for his father’s death as he paid tribute to him after winning Saturday’s Championship play-off final.Coyle, 30, spoke about his aim to “honour” his late father, Chris Coyle, in the build up to Saturday’s fixture against Middlesbrough at Wembley. Following his side’s 1-0 victory, he said the occasion was “the closest I’ll ever get to saying, ‘Dad, I’m sorry’”.Chris died in June 2022 at the age of 59.Speaking to CBS, Coyle said: “I was trying to keep it inside. Maintain myself, manage myself. I’m a couple of minutes away when I come off from realising my dream, and I promise I mentioned to it to him years ago, and I made that promise thinking, ‘I must be barmy’.“A lot of the time I never backed myself to get to the Premier League, and be a Premier League player, and even saying it out loud sounds a bit daft. I’m just a normal, humble kid who grafts for everything I’ve got. And that comes from my old man, he instilled that in me.
“I’ve never really spoken about the night my dad passed away. I lost my dad in a tragic way and I’ve never probably said this and I might regret saying it but I feel I’m partly to blame for why my old man is not here. I’ve always searched for ways that could repay him, and if he can see what’s going on right now then that’s, this is the closest I’ll ever get to saying, ‘Dad, I’m sorry’ and yeah, I owe everything to him. Everything.”Coyle was substituted in the ninth minute of second-half stoppage time at Wembley on Saturday, shortly after Ollie McBurnie’s 95th-minute goal had given Hull the lead.The full-back is a boyhood Hull fan and joined the club from Leeds United in 2020.He comes from a sporting family, with his older brothers Tommy a former professional boxer and Joe a PGA golfer. His younger brother Rocco is also a professional footballer at Hull and spent the season on loan at Scarborough Athletic. Their father Chris owned a fruit stall in Hull.“It’s tough — there is just one man I want to celebrate with,” Coyle told Sky Sports. “He’s not with us but I look up to the sky every game and I had a little look up today. I know he’s with me, for sure. The next best thing are here, I have my family, my beautiful partner, my little boy and all my other family, my brothers and friends who have been there since day one.“There is one man who would have believed in me and that’s my old man, and that’s what I told myself before the game. He would have been saying “you can do it son, f— ’em” and I know I swore and I shouldn’t and I apologise but I had to get it in there because that’s the way my old man spoke. I kept replaying those words in my mind and he got us over the line tonight. I know for a fact my old man did it.”Hull had booked their place in the play-offs on the final day of the Championship season after finishing sixth, seven points behind the Middlesbrough side they beat on Saturday to reach the Premier League.May 23, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms
