An inquest heard Maddy Cusack changed her eating habits, skipped meals and wanted to leave football after becoming increasingly anxious following her former coach’s arrival at Sheffield United
The coach of former Sheffield United player was playing mind games with her before her death, an inquest heard.
Maddy Cusack, 27, was found unconscious by her father, David, at the family home in Horsley, Derbyshire, on September 20, 2023, and died later that day. Before her death, the inquest heard she feared being stigmatised and ridiculed at the club.
Chesterfield Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday that coach Jonathan Morgan made comments about Cusack’s weight while he managed Sheffield United Women.
Grace Riglar, who was in a relationship with Cusack, told the inquest her stress was largely caused by Morgan joining the club. She said Cusack believed the coach had made a “personal attack” on her after she was no longer a regular starter despite previously starting every game.
She said: “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. 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. She just felt those little things were intentional.”
Riglar told the inquest Cusack had been anxious when she learned Morgan was joining Sheffield United because of her previous experience working with him at Leicester City.
She told the inquest: “I think it was stuff she told me about her previous experience prior to Jonathan coming to Sheffield. 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.”
Riglar also told the court Morgan had made comments about Cusack’s weight, prompting her to change her eating and exercise habits, including skipping breakfast, cutting out carbohydrates and going on extra runs after training.
The inquest also heard Morgan asked players to disclose any relationships when he joined the club before regularly referring to Riglar as “Mrs Cusack”, something Cusack found uncomfortable.
She said: “We wanted to keep our relationship very professional. The football side and relationship side were very separate.”
The inquest also heard Cusack had been signed off by her doctor from both playing football and her full-time marketing role at Sheffield United. Before her death, she told Riglar she wanted to move to Dubai to become a flight attendant and had been searching online for a new job.
Riglar added: “She didn’t want to go back to playing football. I don’t think she really knew how to get out of that situation.”
Cusack’s line manager, Eoin Doyle, who worked with her in Sheffield United’s marketing department, also gave evidence.
Doyle told the court he was with Cusack when she first encountered Morgan after he took over as manager. He said: “She was anxious about whether she should go up and say hello to him and Maddy is usually a confident young woman.” He added it was “different to how I would see her approach someone else.”
Doyle said Cusack also appeared generally “anxious” at the time, recalling how she had been “fretting” about accidentally parking in a cycle lane, which he said “did not seem like the Maddy I knew”.
He also told the court Morgan referred to Cusack as “love sick” while discussing concerns about her after Riglar had left United for another club.
When asked by Morgan, who is representing himself at the inquest, whether he considered the “love sick” remark to be malicious, Doyle said he did not. He said: “I took it as concern but I still think [it was] ill-judged.”
He added he had never believed Cusack would harm herself and said she had given no indication that she intended to do so.
The inquest continues.