'Dad got us over the line' – Captain Coyle pays emotional tribute as Tigers roar into top flight

MOVING UP: Hull City players celerbate with the trophy following the Sky Bet Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture date: Saturday May 23, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: John Walton/PA Wire

Hull captain Lewie Coyle dedicated the Tigers’ Sky Bet Championship play-off final victory to his late father Chris.

Oli McBurnie struck in stoppage time as Hull edged out Middlesbrough 1-0 to reach the Premier League, leaving Hull-born captain Coyle emotional as he soaked up the celebrations at Wembley.

His father Chris Coyle, who died suddenly in 2022, was a well-known figure in the city, where he ran a fruit and veg stall in the city while raising four boys who have all gone on to become professional sportsmen.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Coyle said: “There’s just one man I want to celebrate with and he’s not with us but I look up to the sky every game and I had a little look up there today. He’s with me. I know he’s with me for sure.

“The next best thing, I’ve got the rest of my family here: my beautiful partner, my little boy and all my other family, my brothers and friends who have been there since day one.

“I don’t think there’s many people who thought I could captain a side to the Premier League, and even saying that out loud seems a little bit wild. I’m just an honest, humble kid but there was certainly one man who would believe in me and that was my old man.

“He would have been saying, ‘you can do it son, f*** ’em’. Sorry to swear but I had to get it in there because that was the way my old man spoke. He got us over the line today, I know for a fact my old man did it.” In a match which saw only two shots on target – both falling to Hull – McBurnie struck in the fifth minute of time added on, capitalising when Boro goalkeeper Sol Brynn was unable to hold a cross.

The 29-year-old, who joined Hull from Las Palmas last summer, said: “We knew we’d be right up against it but we felt we’d have one chance and I just felt that it was written for me today. I didn’t think it would be so late on, but what a feeling, man.”

PA