Hull City captain Lewie Coyle used football as an escape following the death of his father in 2022... now almost two years later he is desperate to take his hometown club back to the Premier League

To the outside world, life could not be much better for Lewie Coyle. He is captain of his hometown club Hull City, who are just outside the Championship play-off places, he is playing the best football of his career and, in February last year, he became a father when his son Ezrah was born.

But all of that only makes it harder for Coyle to accept that his father, Chris, is no longer here to see it. A former champion body builder who went on to become a legendary market trader in Hull, Chris died in June 2022 aged 59.

‘It was very, very tough. We lost dad very suddenly…’ Coyle’s voice cracks and as the emotion shows on his face, he asks for a moment to compose himself.

‘Not having him around is still incredibly hard. I probably find it harder now than we did initially because the more time you’ve not had him, the more realisation there is that you’re never going to see him again.

‘He never met my little boy, which I find extremely tough. I wish he was here to see that everything he sacrificed when we were growing up has paid off for me and my three brothers.

‘We’re thankful my dad made us the way he did. He instilled that toughness in us, that resilience we’ve had to show to get back to doing what we do without him. But I still struggle speaking about him not being here. I miss him.’

Coyle, who was made Hull captain a month after his father’s death, found going into last season incredibly tough but used football as an escape.

‘I never missed a day’s training in my time from losing my dad. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. The day after the funeral was probably the only day where I’ve not wanted to come into football.

‘I don’t mind saying that I didn’t honour him in the best way possible initially after we lost him. To the outside world they probably think I handled it really well but I didn’t. A lot of things I struggled with.

‘The football certainly helped me get back on track. That’s the best way to honour my dad and thank him for everything that he did for me.’

It was not just football which helped Coyle through his grief, but the birth of son Ezrah. ‘We found out three days after my dad passed that my partner, Aaliyah, was pregnant,’ he says. ‘She didn’t know how to break that to me and whether it was the right time but we now look at it as being my dad’s way of saying “son, this is your reason now”.

‘I struggled initially with him because all I wanted was to see my old man hold him. I know exactly what he would think of him, what he would be saying and the way he would hold him.

‘That’s the closest I’ll get to it and it breaks my heart every day that he’s never met him and Ezrah won’t meet his grandad. I’ll make sure when he’s old enough he’ll know all about him and how special he was.

‘Ezrah has saved me. If it wouldn’t have been for him then God knows where I would be. My dad had this weird way of sorting things even when I didn’t think he could. I think Ezrah was certainly a gift from my old man.’

You would be forgiven for thinking Coyle, 28, is the boxer in his family. He suffered a broken nose courtesy of an accidental collision with team-mate Jacob Greaves before dislocating his eye socket in a game against Ipswich a few weeks later. 

The defender joked it is the only time he has received any sympathy from his eldest brother, Tommy, who fought professionally.

The Coyles are the most successful sporting family to come out of Hull. Lewie’s second-eldest brother Joe is a professional golf coach and the youngest, 18-year-old Rocco, signed a professional contract with the Tigers in December.

‘What Rocco has achieved through a really traumatic time speaks volumes of the person he is,’ says Coyle. ‘I’m incredibly proud of him and I love that I can be part of his journey.’

Coyle may be Hull born and bred but the right back started at Yorkshire rivals Leeds, where he was involved in an alleged tapping-up scandal aged 10.

‘I got referred to as “the kitchen kid” because there were rumours that my family got offered a new house with a brand new kitchen in order for me to go to Chelsea,’ Coyle laughs.

‘The academy manager who was at Leeds moved to Chelsea and approached my dad. My dad politely made the decision for me. There was also interest from Barcelona.

'I don’t know how that came about but it was a nice tag to have at that age. They’d maybe seen my long hair, maybe I looked Spanish for a game or two!’

Coyle, who joined the Tigers in 2020, is one of several first-team players to have grown up in Hull, alongside academy products Greaves, Matty Jacob and Stan Ashbee — son of the club’s former captain, Ian.

‘The people from Hull are fantastic,’ says Coyle. ‘They back their own and they support their own. It’s tough at times but we’re a hard-working city. I think the supporters can relate to us.’

Coyle found himself in and out of the team when Liam Rosenior took over but he has become undroppable after signing a new long-term deal last summer.

‘I feel like I’m playing the best stuff of my career so far, that comes with age and experience and I have a lot to thank the gaffer for. I’ve learned more now than I ever have done.’

Coyle was 12 when Dean Windass fired the Tigers to the Premier League in the 2008 play-off final. Sixteen years later, the chance of replicating that achievement is a real possibility.

‘You get to some stages in your career and think “is it really going to happen? Maybe it’s too late.” It would be a dream come true.’

Much was made of the Tigers’ January transfer window, in which seven players arrived including loan signings from the Premier League in Fabio Carvalho, Ryan Giles and Anass Zaroury.

‘Some of the talent the club has brought in is excellent,’ adds Coyle. ‘It’s a special group. There is so much personality throughout this squad and I think that takes you a long way.

‘We have everything we need to do something special. I want to be part of history and I want to be the captain to take this club back to the Premier League.’