Maddy Cusack, 27, was found dead at home in September 2023, and at her inquest her father David Cusack described how she feared disclosing mental health issues could lead to stigma at Sheffield United and head coach Jonathan Morgan—claims Morgan denies as the
The day Maddy Cusack died, her father David Cusack found her at the family home in Horsley, Derbyshire, in the late afternoon of September 20, 2023. He tried to administer CPR and called an ambulance. She was 27.
Nearly three years later, an inquest into her death began on Monday, June 29, at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court.
Cusack had played for Sheffield United after joining from Leicester City in 2019. going on to become the Blades’ first player to reach 100 appearances. She had previously worked with Jonathan Morgan. When Morgan was appointed Sheffield United head coach in February 2022. David Cusack said it left his daughter “dismayed” at the prospect of Morgan returning into her life.
Cusack’s father described a strained relationship around her earlier departure from Leicester. He said she left because she had “never come across a character like that before in football.” At the time. Leicester City Women were owned by Morgan’s family before the King Power takeover in 2020. David Cusack said he believed she was put under pressure to leave once it became apparent the team would not gain promotion.
“I believe that the family decided that they wanted to offload players. ” he said. explaining the reasoning as either paying contracts up or making conditions so unpleasant that players would leave. He added: “Madeleine was dependent on me at that time. so when she was unhappy there because life had been made so unpleasant for her. she decided that she wanted to leave.”.
At Sheffield United, David Cusack said she experienced a “welcome reset,” balancing a part-time playing role with work for the club’s Community Trust. He praised the influence of Carla Ward and later Neil Redfearn, and said she was also “very proud of” buying a new house.
But Morgan’s arrival, Cusack’s father said, shifted everything. Morgan has been present at the inquest and has denied any wrongdoing. He told the court he had informed Cusack at the end of the 2022-23 season that the next year would be her “best one yet”.
The dispute at the heart of the inquest now turns on how Cusack felt about her own position and support in the period leading up to her death.
David Cusack said by September 2018. he and his family had taken the view Morgan was “in our rear-view.” From Morgan’s appointment in February 2022. he said his daughter played seldom and took it as a sign of “here we go again.” He also described a struggle to combine football with her job in the club’s marketing department. where she later worked as a marketing executive alongside her playing career.
He said Cusack became unwell in July, which he believed was linked to her contract. She had been offered a new full-time contract by summer 2023, but David Cusack said Morgan “didn’t want to offer Maddy a new contract.” He added that her marketing department role meant she was “forced on him.”
“She’d had to wait and it never materialised until the end of June. She was told that there was no money left,” he said.
According to the evidence described at the inquest. Cusack was upgraded from a part-time contract on £6. 000-a-year to full-time on £18. 000-a-year. David Cusack said she continued in the marketing department. but the balance between the two became a strain on both her and her finances. even as she tried to do “justice to her marketing job.”.
He described the day-to-day disruptions as training venues and times changing suddenly, making it difficult for her to manage if she was late. He said: “She still wanted to do justice to her roles.”
As the weeks went on, he said, her meticulous routine stopped translating into the same sense of momentum. “Towards the end, she was demotivated,” he said. “She didn’t let herself go, or anything like that. She was demotivated or deflated.”
He told the inquest Cusack became anxious and worried about combining the two roles. while also saying the money was less than the previous year. David Cusack said she “lost her joie de vivre” and that her team-mate and partner Grace (Riglar) joined Lewes in Brighton. which left her disappointed—though he said it all came back to her relationship with Morgan.
When asked what Cusack thought of Morgan, David Cusack said it was his “way of dealing with people,” describing it as “my way or the highway” and saying he “couldn’t deal with established players because they could see through him.”
Morgan, who represents himself at the inquest, argued that Cusack’s treatment by the club was not driven by wrongdoing. He told the court he had brought her lunch when she was short of time so she could attend her marketing role. He also argued he worked to secure her a new contract. Morgan said his decision to hand Cusack the vice-captaincy showed his belief in her.
Morgan suggested that players approached by the Cusack family to give evidence were selectively chosen to “misrepresent” him. David Cusack responded that the players had “sought us out” and that the “general tenet was that when you were a favourite you were a favourite. but when you weren’t it got very unpleasant.”.
Morgan also argued that Cusack’s earlier absence from his starting line-up was linked to a foot injury he said he was told she had when he arrived. He said this was the main reason she was left out of his first three games in charge, despite having started regularly before.
It was on the question of mental health, though, that David Cusack’s account became most pointed. In the weeks before her death, he said he and his wife sought a private psychotherapist for Maddy. He said the club offered “no support.”
Cusack was prescribed antidepressants and sleeping pills and, according to her father, she reluctantly called in sick to work. David Cusack said she “didn’t want” Morgan or the club to be aware of her mental health issues.
“She felt that if she disclosed her mental health issues – she saw it happen to other people – that would be an excuse and she would be out,” he said. He added: “It wouldn’t be the first time that an organisation stigmatised someone for not being well enough to work, would it?”
He said Cusack believed that if there was a battle between him and the manager, the club would go with Morgan, and that she felt the women’s football team was not taken seriously. He said she also believed disclosure would give the club grounds to move her on.
He said she felt, too, that if she disclosed her mental health issues, it would be used against her. Asked about a comment Cusack had made that she had “no future. ” David Cusack told the court: “She’s got to give up something. She couldn’t carry on like this. We thought she was depressed, not suicidal.”.
Less than a week after her death, the Cusack family submitted a formal complaint to Sheffield United. David Cusack said on Monday that he wanted the club to know what had happened and that the family did not want to “let it go and move on.”
He rejected other explanations for Cusack’s condition, saying: “The other narratives that are being pushed – being conflicted about her sexuality, money worries – it’s all a smokescreen. They’ve got to invent something else.”
Sheffield United commissioned an internal investigation which concluded in December 2023 and found no evidence of misconduct.
The club later dismissed Jonathan Morgan in February 2024 after information emerged regarding a relationship he had with a player during his previous tenure at Leicester City between 2014 and 2021. The club said the dismissal was unrelated to the FA’s investigation. and David Cusack said it was welcomed by the family at the time.
The inquest continues.
Maddy Cusack Sheffield United Jonathan Morgan inquest Horsley Derbyshire Leicester City women’s football mental health