Maddy Cusack's Coach Accused of Mind Games Before Her Death

The former coach of Maddy Cusack was accused of calling her a “psycho” from the touchline and playing “mind games” with her in the months before her death, an inquest has heard.

Cusack, a popular and long-serving member of Sheffield United’s women’s team, was 27 when her father, David, found her unconscious at the family home in Horsley, Derbyshire, on 20 September 2023. She died later that day.

The inquest at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court was told on Tuesday that Jonathan Morgan, then manager of Sheffield United Women, had made comments about Cusack’s weight and her relationship, and that his arrival at the club had left her unsettled.

‘Psycho’ comment and shifting status

Giving evidence, teammate Grace Riglar – who was in a relationship with Cusack – said Maddy had been “anxious” about Morgan’s appointment because of her previous experience with him at Leicester City.

“I think it was stuff she told me about her previous experience prior to Jonathan coming to Sheffield,” Riglar told the court.

She described an incident from that earlier spell, recalling what Cusack had said about a match in which Morgan was on the Leicester touchline.

“I think she said that they played a game against a team while Jonathan was the manager. She had done something on the pitch and Jonathan called her a psycho from the sideline.

“I don't think she let anyone know those types of comments affected her, but they did and they made her uncomfortable.”

On the pitch, Cusack had been a mainstay. A regular starter. That changed under Morgan, the inquest heard, and it cut deep.

“She was used to starting every game, she was an important member of the team. When Jonathan came, she was in and out from the starting team a bit,” Riglar said.

“Her going from starting, to being on the bench quite a lot... she saw that as a setback. That impacted her a lot.

“I just think she almost felt like it was a bit of a personal attack, and that Jonathan was playing mind games with her by starting her one week and dropping her the next.”

Relationship under the spotlight

The scrutiny, Riglar said, extended beyond team selection. It reached into their private lives.

When Morgan took over at Sheffield United, he gathered the squad and set out his stance on internal relationships.

According to Riglar, he told the players in that first meeting that anyone in a relationship within the team had to tell him.

For Cusack and Riglar, who wanted to keep their relationship professional in the football environment, that created an uncomfortable dynamic.

Riglar said: “She found it uncomfortable when Jonathan would call me 'Mrs Cusack', especially in front of other players.

“We wanted to keep our relationship very professional. The football side and relationship side were very separate.”

Weight comments and changing habits

The inquest also heard that Morgan had made a remark about Cusack’s weight. What followed, Riglar said, was a noticeable change in Maddy’s behaviour around food and fitness.

She told the court that Cusack altered her eating and exercise routines: cutting out carbohydrates, skipping breakfast, and going for extra runs after training sessions.

This was not a player looking for a basic fitness boost. Cusack, Riglar stressed, was already one of the most physically impressive in the squad.

“She was one of the fittest players on the team anyway,” Riglar said.

Yet the pressure, as Cusack felt it, seemed to grow. At the start of the new season, Riglar said, her partner had become “paranoid”.

“She didn't really have anyone she could speak to without it getting back to Jonathan,” she told the coroner.

A player looking for a way out

Away from the pitch, the strain was compounded by workload. The inquest heard that Cusack had obtained a sick note from a doctor, allowing her time off from both her part-time playing duties and her full-time marketing role at Sheffield United.

She had also started to look beyond English football altogether.

Cusack told Riglar shortly before her death that she wanted to move to Dubai and become a flight attendant. She had been searching online for new jobs, exploring a future that did not involve the club where she had become such a familiar figure.

Those plans, like a career that had promised so much, were left unfinished.