Tragic footballer Maddy Cusack’s manager ‘made her uncomfortable, commenting on her weight, non-public relationship – and calling her a psycho’ before she was found dead at home

Maddy Cusack felt ‘uncomfortable’ after manager Jonathan Morgan ordered her and partner Grace Riglar to reveal their relationship and referred to Riglar as ‘Mrs Cusack’ in front of her team-mates.

Riglar, who met Maddy when she joined Sheffield United at the start of the 2022-23 season and began a non-public relationship, is giving evidence at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court on the second day of the late Sheffield United player’s inquest.

Maddy was found dead by her father David Cusack at her home in Horsley, Derbyshire, on 20 September 2023, aged 27.

He joined Sheffield United from Leicester City in 2019, having previously worked with Morgan. He then went on to become head coach of Sheffield United in February 2023.

Riglar, 25, said Morgan ordered a team meeting when he joined the club in 2023 and asked all players he had a relationship with during that meeting to arrange a separate, private meeting with him.

Asked if this was normal practice, Riglar said: ‘From my experience at the club I don’t think it’s normal. If there’s any problem in a relationship, if it affects the football side of things, the manager may want to get involved, but Maddy and I were always very professional.’

Fellow professional footballer Grace Riglar played for United at the same time as Ms Cusack and was in a relationship with her.

As for her meetings with Morgan, Riglar said it made Maddy feel “uncomfortable,” especially since he described her as a “very private” person.

‘He never wanted to go to the meeting or give this speech. It was a bit disturbing, especially that he was a manager and not a friend.

‘As far as I remember, he stated that there were three rules for players in the team who were in relationships. All I can remember is that he said that if it was going to make one of us angry, the other shouldn’t hold a grudge about it.’

When asked if anyone from Human Resources was present at the meeting, Riglar replied ‘no’ and said it was ‘just the three of us’.

Riglar, who now plays for third-tier club Norwich, told how Maddy later felt uncomfortable when Morgan referred to her as ‘Mrs Cusack’.

“It really bothered me that Jonathan called me Miss Cusack,” she said. ‘He was ahead of the other players and we wanted to keep our relationship very professional. ‘The football side and the relationship side were always very separate.’

Riglar also talked about how comments Morgan allegedly made to Maddy about her weight at the end of the 2022-23 season affected her self-esteem.

‘She said that after a session Jonathan commented on her fitness or her weight. “As a result, eating and exercise habits have changed,” he said. ‘He would do things like not eating carbohydrates, skipping breakfast, going for an extra run after the game; He made minor changes to his habits that probably weren’t the healthiest for him at the time.

‘After those comments he wanted to prove her a bit wrong. He was already one of the fittest players.’

Morgan, who is representing herself, defended herself on Tuesday by calling Maddy ‘fit’ rather than ‘fat’.

As for the allegation that Morgan was playing ‘mind games’ with Maddy, which he vehemently denies, Riglar said ‘nobody at the club could understand’ why Maddy was underused when he first joined and towards the end of his first season in charge.

‘At the time, no one understood why he wasn’t playing,’ he said. ‘From what he said and what I saw, I would say that’s what he was trying to do – maybe I’m not saying mind games – but he gave Maddy a signal that because he was the manager, he could do whatever he wanted.

‘He was used to starting every game, he was an important member of the team. When Jonathan arrived he was in and out of the starting team a bit. He saw this as a setback when he was frequently left on the bench from the start. “This affected him greatly.”

The inquest heard Jonathan Morgan also commented on Ms Cusack’s weight.

Maddy told Riglar before she died that she wanted to move to Dubai and become a flight attendant.

Morgan claimed this was ‘inconsistent’ and said he started Maddy in five of Sheffield United’s nine matches at the end of the 2022-23 season and the first three matches of the 2023-24 season following Riglar’s move to Lewes FC in Brighton.

On Tuesday, Riglar also touched on a story Maddy shared from his time working with Morgan at Leicester City in 2019.

‘He asked Jonathan or the team if they had been training too much before the game. He later learned that he had been expelled from school after questioning whether they had trained too much.

‘They were warming up for the match as normal and after the match Jonathan apparently said he heard Maddy say she was a WSL1 player and shouldn’t be playing for this team.

‘He said they then had a meeting about it and Jonathan talked to him about the comment and why he had made it. Apparently he ended up saying he knew she never said anything like that and that he made the whole thing up.’

As heard at the pre-inquest hearing, Maddy also shared that Morgan once called her a ‘psychopath’.

Going into detail about the matter, Riglar said: ‘This happened while I was at Leicester. He said they were playing a game against a team where Jonathan was the coach and Jonathan called him a “psychopath” from the sidelines.

‘He came across as a tough character. ‘I don’t think he would let anyone know they affected him, but they did and it bothered him.’

Riglar and Cusack are photographed playing together on the same team in March 2023

Riglar, who previously worked with Morgan at Leicester City, described how his “reputation preceded him”.

‘I think a lot of people in women’s football talk and know each other. ‘I don’t think there are many people who can talk to each other and say positive things.’

Asked if the club knew of his reputation, Riglar replied: ‘I think yes.’

She later added: ‘The other girls were bursting into tears and crying about something Jonathan said at a training session. An example of this occurred in the first year and I would say it is a fairly common occurrence.’

The inquest heard Maddy relied on Eoin Doyle, Sheffield United’s marketing director and division manager, whom she regarded as a trusted confidant. He said he was concerned about his financial situation and was considering selling his house, while also dealing with some ‘personal issues’.

Morgan later approached Doyle after noticing a change in Maddy’s demeanor and told him that he believed Maddy might be ‘lovesick’ following Riglar’s departure for Lewes.

Doyle told the inquest that he did not believe Morgan should have shared this information with him, saying he understood it was ‘personal stuff’ that Maddy was alluding to but chose not to disclose it. He added that he believed Morgan had acted out of concern for Maddy, despite what he described as Morgan’s ‘bad judgment’ in revealing details of Maddy’s private life.

The inquest heard Maddy had received a sick note from a doctor to take time off from football and her marketing job at United. He was also prescribed anti-anxiety medications and sleeping pills.

Maddy had told Riglar before her death that she wanted to move to Dubai and become a flight attendant and was looking for a new job online.

Riglar told the coroner: ‘He didn’t want to go back to playing football. I don’t think he really knows how to get out of this situation.’

Maddy also asked Riglar: ‘Would you still love me if I wasn’t a football player?’

Shortly after Maddy’s death, Sheffield United launched an external investigation, which concluded in December 2023 and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

In February 2024, the club sacked Morgan after details of his relationship with a young player while he was manager of Leicester City between 2014 and 2021 emerged.

The club said the dismissal was unrelated to the FA’s investigation, although it was welcomed by the Cusack family at the time.

The investigation continues.

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