Manager's Return Rattled Maddy Cusack, Inquest Told

On Tuesday, the Maddy Cusack inquest is due to hear from her partner and mother, after her father told Chesterfield coroner’s court that Jonathan Morgan’s behaviour was the most significant cause of the deterioration in the Sheffield United footballer’s mental health.

Cusack, the former Sheffield United Women player, was found dead at her family home in Derbyshire on 20 September 2023, aged 27, according to Guardian World. Morgan, who was Sheffield United Women’s manager at the time, is representing himself at the inquest.

June 2026 Maddy Cusack inquest opens with father blaming Jonathan Morgan’s behaviour

David Cusack told the court that his daughter’s mental health decline was linked most directly to Morgan, who had previously coached her at Leicester City before joining Sheffield United in February 2023.

Asked what he believed was the single or most significant cause of that decline, David Cusack replied:

“It was Mr Morgan’s behaviour towards her, as simple as that.”

He said other explanations being discussed were a “smokescreen” and told the court he wanted Morgan to be “held responsible”. He also claimed Sheffield United had “backed the wrong horse” by not immediately suspending Morgan.

Morgan challenged that account directly during a tense exchange. He accused David Cusack of relying on hearsay to form his opinion of him and asked him more than 60 questions, according to the report.

One exchange focused on how much David Cusack personally knew about Morgan’s conduct. Morgan said: “If we’ve hardly spoken, how would you have a fair assessment of me?” David Cusack replied: “She told me what she told me.”

The court also heard that Morgan disputed David Cusack’s description of Cusack not playing in his first three games in charge. Morgan said she had been dealing with an injury.

Morgan then drew shocked expressions from family and friends in court when he asked:

“The statistics showed there were more wins without Maddy in the team, than with her in it – what would you have done?”

David Cusack answered: “I’m not a football coach, I’ve no idea. I’ve never interfered [with any coach’s team selections]. You and I have hardly spoken.”

February 2023 return left Cusack “dismayed”, her father tells court

David Cusack said his daughter was “dismayed by the possibility of him coming back into her life” when she learned Morgan was set to be appointed by Sheffield United in February 2023.

She had played under Morgan at Leicester for a brief spell in 2018. Her father told the court Morgan was the “principal reason” she left Leicester City during the 2018-19 season, when she moved to Sheffield United during the winter transfer window.

He described Morgan’s management style as “my way or the highway” and said: “She’d never come across a character like him before. The way he dealt with people, his man-management, when you’re in, you’re in, when you’re out, you’re out.”

Morgan’s position is different. The inquest heard he claimed to have supported Cusack’s welfare, including by making lunches for her to ease time-management pressure and giving her more flexibility around training arrival times. David Cusack said his daughter had never mentioned those steps to him.

Cusack was the first player to reach 100 appearances for Sheffield United Women. She also worked in the club’s marketing department and signed a professional contract in the summer of 2023.

That contract raised her football earnings to £18,000 a year, up from £6,000 the previous season when she played part-time, excluding her marketing salary. But her father said she became anxious about juggling the two roles.

XOOMAR analysis: The contract detail matters because it complicates any single-cause reading of the evidence. David Cusack put Morgan’s conduct at the center of the mental health decline, but he also described pressure from the structure of her football and marketing roles. The coroner will have to weigh those strands separately, not collapse them into one courtroom exchange.

As in other public accountability disputes XOOMAR has covered, including Ouster Claims Hit Misan Harriman’s Southbank Centre Exit, the institutional question is not only what individuals did. It’s also what systems existed when concerns surfaced.

September 2023 sick note put mental health stigma at center of hearing

The inquest also heard evidence from Dr Mobeen Bhatti, who issued Cusack with a sick note in September 2023 after a consultation.

Dr Bhatti told the court that Cusack asked for her mental health problems and anxiety not to be specifically named in the diagnosis on the note for Sheffield United, because she did not want to be “stigmatised”.

BBC material cited in the case account said Dr Bhatti told the court: “She had been anxious, unable to sleep and had worrying thoughts.” The note said she was “generally unwell”.

David Cusack said his daughter, who had been prescribed medication, felt that if she used mental health as an “excuse” she “would be out” of the team. He also said: “We thought she was depressed, not suicidal.”

That testimony pushes the Maddy Cusack inquest beyond a dispute about coaching style. It brings the court into the harder question of whether a player felt able to disclose mental health problems without fearing selection consequences, workplace judgment, or ridicule.

This is where the case has wider force. Elite footballers operate inside selection hierarchies every day. If a player believes honesty about anxiety could cost them status in the squad, formal welfare routes may exist on paper but still fail in practice.

The court has also heard that Sheffield United’s own investigation, completed in December 2023, found no evidence of wrongdoing. Morgan was sacked by Sheffield United in February 2024.

A similar institutional accountability thread runs through XOOMAR’s coverage of public-health failures, including 1,300 Deaths Drag Europe Heatwave Into Health Crisis, where the central issue is how systems respond before harm becomes irreversible.

Next phase puts Sheffield United welfare systems and Morgan’s evidence under scrutiny

The next phase of the Maddy Cusack inquest is set to test how Sheffield United handled player welfare concerns, what support Cusack received, and what warnings, if any, were raised inside the club.

On Tuesday, the inquest is scheduled to hear from Cusack’s partner and her mother. Sheffield United staff are then expected to be questioned. Morgan is scheduled to give evidence in the week commencing next Monday.

His testimony will matter because he has already challenged the family’s account while representing himself. The court will now need to hear his full explanation of the welfare support he says he provided, his response to the criticism from Cusack’s family, and his account of the relationship with Cusack at both Leicester and Sheffield United.

The formal public record will not be settled by one confrontation in court. It will be shaped by the coroner’s findings after evidence from family members, club staff, medical witnesses, and Morgan himself. The practical question now is whether the inquest identifies a breakdown in support, a clash of accounts, or a clearer chain of decisions that should have triggered intervention before September 2023.

Impact Analysis

• The inquest is examining claims that workplace conduct contributed to Maddy Cusack’s mental health decline.
• David Cusack’s testimony puts renewed scrutiny on Jonathan Morgan’s role and Sheffield United’s response.
• The case could influence how football clubs handle player welfare, complaints and managerial accountability.