‘We were written off’ — John Egan on how experience of old heads got Hull City back to the Premier League

At the age of 33, Ireland defender John Egan is definitely in the ‘veteran’ category of footballers. And the Cork native says it was the experience of those old heads, with random signings forced on the club due to a transfer embargo in place at the start of the season, that got Hull City over the line and back into the Premier League. Egan possibly thought that his own days as a top-flight player were over when he left Sheffield United, his last Premier League game coming for the Blades back in September 2023.

But the ex-Sunderland player has been a revelation for Hull this season and will now enjoy another stab at the Premier League next term, Egan part of a City side that beat Middlesbrough in the promotion play-off final on Saturday. “It’s a long season. There are a lot of ups and downs, but I think what helped us this year was the amount of experience we had last summer,” said Egan. “The embargo was tough on the club, but it probably helped us. We had to sign more experienced players. Everybody was writing us off, but I thought we had a lot of lads in there who had either been promoted, played in the Premier League or played top end championship football, so I was excited for the season. “The togetherness has been huge.

We’re so close as a team. When you’re in dressing rooms like that, it’s special, everyone loves coming into training. “We all love each other’s company. We love going on away trips together. And I think we showed on the pitch. “We dug deep on Saturday, they had a lot of the ball, we knew they would.

But we always knew we’d get a chance,” added Egan, who has been rested from the Ireland squad ahead of the Qatar and Canada friendly games. Teammate Lewis Coyle, a Hull native, paid tribute to Egan in an emotional speech in the dressing room after the win. “It’s a team sport and that staff included some special staff at this football club, and no one can ever take this away from us boys. I know there’s other fellas in here. I met Eags [John Egan] for a reason.

He told me he was going to get me up them [Wembley] steps,” Coyle said.