![\"Maddy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/footballer-maddy-cusack-s-coach-called-her-a-psycho-inquest-hears.jpg\")
Maddy Cusack\u2019s brother Richard with his partner Emily Baker, and her parents Deborah and David Cusack, outside Chesterfield Coroners\u2019 Court in January (Joe Giddens\/PA)<\/p>\nFormer Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack\u2019s coach had called her a \u201cpsycho\u201d and was playing mind games with her before her death, an inquest has heard.<\/p>\n
Chesterfield Coroner\u2019s Court heard that Jonathan Morgan also made comments about Cusack\u2019s weight and relationship while he was the manager of United\u2019s women\u2019s team, which made her feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old was found unconscious by her father at their family home in Horsley, Derbyshire, on September 20 2023, and she died the same day.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think she let anyone know those types of comments affected her but they did and they made her uncomfortable<\/p>\n
Grace Riglar<\/p>\n
Fellow professional footballer Grace Riglar, who played for United at the same time as Ms Cusack and was in a relationship with her, said the player was \u201canxious\u201d about Morgan joining the club in February 2023 after her experience of working with him at Leicester City years earlier.<\/p>\n
She told the inquest on Tuesday: \u201cI think it was stuff she told me about her previous experience prior to Jonathan coming to Sheffield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think she let anyone know those types of comments affected her but they did and they made her uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Morgan joining United was a big cause of Ms Cusack\u2019s stress, which coincided with her being unhappy there.<\/p>\n
Riglar added that Cusack thought the coach made a \u201cpersonal attack\u201d on her by not putting her in the starting line-up for matches.<\/p>\n
She told the court: \u201cShe 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.<\/p>\n
Maddy Cusack\u2019s brother Richard with his partner Emily Baker, and her parents Deborah and David Cusack, outside Chesterfield Coroners\u2019 Court in January (Joe Giddens\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cHer going from starting to being on the bench quite a lot, she saw that as a setback. That impacted her a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just felt those little things were intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riglar told the inquest that Morgan also made comments about Cusack\u2019s relationship with her.<\/p>\n
When Morgan joined United, Riglar said, he told the players in the first meeting that if anyone was in a relationship within the team, they had to tell him.<\/p>\n
Riglar said: \u201cShe found it uncomfortable when Jonathan would call me \u2018Mrs Cusack\u2019, especially in front of other players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to keep our relationship very professional. The football side and relationship side were very separate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riglar told the court that Mr Morgan made a comment about Cusack\u2019s weight and she changed her eating and exercise habits, including by not eating carbohydrates, skipping breakfast and going for extra runs after training.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t really have anyone she could speak to without it getting back to Jonathan<\/p>\n
Grace Riglar<\/p>\n
Riglar added: \u201cShe was one of the fittest players on the team anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The footballer told the coroner that Ms Cusack had become \u201cparanoid\u201d at the start of the new season.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cShe didn\u2019t really have anyone she could speak to without it getting back to Jonathan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inquest heard Ms Cusack had a sick note from a doctor to have time off football and her marketing job at United.<\/p>\n
She had also been prescribed anti-anxiety medication, the inquest has been told.<\/p>\n
Cusack told her girlfriend before her death that she wanted to move to Dubai and be a flight attendant, and had been looking for a new job online.<\/p>\n
Riglar told the coroner: \u201cShe didn\u2019t want to go back to playing football. I don\u2019t think she really knew how to get out of that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inquest continues.<\/p>\n
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can freephone the Samaritans 24 hours a day for confidential support at 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.<\/p>\n
Alternatively, the contact information for a range of mental health supports is available at mentalhealthireland.ie\/get-support.<\/p>\n
In the case of an emergency, or if you or someone you know is at risk of suicide or self-harm, dial 999\/112.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack\u2019s coach had called her a \u201cpsycho\u201d and was playing mind games with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-526054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}