The hearing scheduled for a nondescript courtroom in Chesterfield this week seemed destined to be unremarkable and procedural: the fourth in a series setting the scope of an inquest into the death of Maddy Cusack, a Sheffield United footballer who took her own life, more than 18 months ago.
But what unfolded was shocking and excruciating to behold for all those who expect the modern inquest system to guide grieving families subtly and compassionately through this most traumatic of processes.
From their seats in the front row of the coroner’s court, Ms Cusack’s bereft parents looked up at the face of their daughter’s former manager Jonathan Morgan, who is at the centre of the investigation into her death, as, by video-link, he tore into the list of witnesses proposed for the inquest.
Exuding great confidence, the 35-year-old claimed witnesses ‘sourced’ by the family, as he put it, had been rigged against him to assist their ‘angle.’ He accused the family of ‘manipulating information’. He suggested to the coroner which other aspects of Cusack’s life might also be considered by the inquest.
After a two-hour hearing in which Morgan turned out to be the main speaker, David and Deborah Cusack look shellshocked. Mrs Cusack told some of those with her that she felt like she had been ‘hit by a train.’
The family’s legal team in such a case does not decide on the witness list. All parties propose names. It is for the coroner to decide whether they testify in court.
Maddy Cusack, the Sheffield United footballer who took her own life in September 2023
Jonathan Morgan, Cusack’s manager at the time of her death, put himself in centre stage for the inquest
Cusack’s family – brother Richard with his partner, and parents Deborah and David – outside Chesterfield Coroners’ Court
Had Morgan opted for legal representation, he would not have been dominating proceedings so confrontationally on Tuesday afternoon. He seemed pleased to be speaking for himself, explaining that he had engaged a lawyer ‘not to give me support but advice in the matter.’ He offered the family no condolences.
The hearing was another bleak staging post for the Cusacks, who by the time the inquest opens will have waited over two years for this examination into what led to the death of their daughter – Sheffield United’s vice-captain and a former England Under-19s international.
After her death, in September 2023, they composed a seven-page complaint about her last seven months with the club, which had coincided with Morgan’s appointment as women’s team manager the previous February.
An inquiry commissioned by Sheffield United contained basic factual errors and absolved Morgan of any responsibility, so the family pushed the FA into opening an investigation including the 27-year-old’s time with Morgan at the Blades and, before that, at Leicester City from 2018-19.
Names and sections of the FA report have been redacted in the copy they were sent. But testimonies contained within in it were revealed for the first time during Tuesday’s hearing, reflecting concerns about patterns of Morgan’s behaviour towards Cusack and other women players.
Goalkeeper Fran Kitching and forward Taome Oliver both described how working with him became psychologically oppressive, if he took against a player. Oliver described him making her feel ‘so low’ that she ‘could not enjoy something I had given so much to.’ Another described life at the club under Morgan as akin to ‘being in a prison’.
Two witnesses independently described Morgan verbally taunting Cusack over her mental health. Kitching described him telling her: ‘You’ve always been a f***ing fruitcake.’ Nat Johnson, another former team-mate, recalled Morgan shouting: ‘Still a psycho then, Maddy?’ while Cusack was playing for Sheffield United against his Leicester side.
Morgan denies being to blame for Cusack’s death, claiming he helped her juggle football with a job as a Blades marketing executive to make ends meet. He told the court of a conversation in which he’d asked her ‘how she was feeling’ and trying to get support from the club doctor. He was sacked when it emerged he had a relationship with a player while at a previous club.
The court heard that Morgan said to Cusack: ‘Still a psycho then, Maddy’ while he was managing Leicester City against Sheffield United
Cusack’s mother and sister, plus Sophie Barker and Tony Currie of Sheffield United, lay a wreath in her memory on the pitch at Bramall Lane shortly after her death
Sheffield United players huddle together following a match not longer after the tragedy
Both he and Sheffield United barrister Doug Denton argued in court that they want the inquest to be limited to events leading to Cusack’s death, meaning no broader investigation into the management culture and what provision, if any, there was to help struggling players.
But several inquests relating to tragedies in sport in recent years – including those of footballer Emiliano Sala and ice hockey player Adam Johnson – have been systemic in scope and concluded with recommendations aimed at preventing further tragedy. The Cusack family’s barrister, Dean Armstrong KC, argued that the scope of this inquest must be wide enough to examine the broader context, too.
Mail Sport‘s inquiries this week have established fundamental concerns about young women footballers playing at Cusack’s second-tier level – who amid the rapid professionalisation of the game are being expected to live and train like elite players, while earning less than the minimum wage.
Morgan revealed in court that he was getting help from the League Managers Association. Players in the second-tier Championship – recently rebranded as WSL2 – have not even been able to get support from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), despite being paid salaries below the minimum wage.
Mail Sport understands that a group of 100 Championship players wrote to the PFA union several years ago asking for representation, but were turned away and told that only WSL players qualified.
At a conference staged by Women in Football last year, broadcaster Jacqui Oatley pressed PFA chief executive Maheta Molango on this issue, pointing out that a female Championship player was not able to pick up the phone and ask the union for support, while a 16-year-old male academy player could.
Molango avoided an answer, vaguely suggesting that clubs ‘had an obligation to cover certain things’. Two weeks ago, the union finally agreed to allow WSL2 players to access its services, on condition that the division becomes fully professional.
A former executive with knowledge of the Championship told Mail Sport that the women’s game was struggling to keep pace with rapid professionalisation and not providing the same infrastructure and safeguards that men are accustomed to.
Morgan, who denies being to blame for Cusack’s death, was sacked by Sheffield United when it emerged he had a relationship with a player while at a previous club
PFA chief executive Maheta Molango avoided an answer on providing more support to the women’s second tier
A former executive with knowledge of the Championship told Mail Sport that the women’s game was struggling to keep pace with rapid professionalisation
‘We are going through a rapid pace of evolution but with very blurred standards,’ she said. ‘A lot is still dependent on having one or two really good people at a club. But where they happen to be is arbitrary. A lot of women’s football is still very fragile.’
A sports psychologist with experience of both men’s and women’s football told us that, while the lack of psychological resource remained a problem for both, women have the most minimal level of support, and generally none. ‘People wait until someone has fallen off the edge of a cliff and say “OK, we need some psychological help”,’ she said.
A player at a side several leagues below WSL2 said that the lack of candidates for coaching roles meant that some who had an adverse impact on a club environment still ended up being employed elsewhere.
‘We had a coach who was sacked but just walked into a job two tiers higher,’ said the player. ‘You don’t have much choice of who is coaching you.’
The family’s barrister argued some of these issues must be aired now. ‘It is impossible to view this as about Mr Morgan’s approach and attitude to Madeleine alone,’ Armstrong argued.
‘There was then, and there continues to be, a significant difference between the men’s game and the women’s game in terms of resource but also in terms of how people are dealt with.
‘This is one of the first occasions where those features are being addressed. In these circumstances, there is a fundamental requirement to examine what is in place to protect these young women.’
Were the death of a male Premier League or Championship player under consideration, there would have been a searching spotlight on this week’s hearing. Instead, there were three reporters in court. Coroner Sophie Cartwright will now decide on the scope of the inquest and whether it will take place before a jury.
Cusack’s sister, mother and brother, speaking to Mail Sport in 2023
Were a male Premier League or Championship player’s death under consideration, there would have been a searching spotlight on this hearing. Instead, there were three reporters in court
The Cusacks continue to build the MC8 Foundation set up in their daughter’s name – eight was the number she wore – to preserve her memory and help girls get into football
The Cusacks continue to build the MC8 Foundation set up in their daughter’s name – eight was the number she wore at Sheffield United – to preserve her memory and help girls get into football.
‘If things don’t change, there will be another Madeleine,’ Mrs Cusack told Mail Sport on the first anniversary of her daughter’s death, last year.
‘It might not be this year or next, but there will be. That’s wrong and people should be desperate to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’
