Former Sheffield United participant Maddy Cusack was “dismayed” that her earlier coach was becoming a member of her soccer membership months earlier than she died, her father has informed an inquest.
Chesterfield Coroner’s Courtroom heard that 27-year-old Ms Cusack feared being stigmatised and ridiculed on the membership earlier than she was discovered at her residence deal with in Derbyshire, on September 20 2023.
Her father, David Cusack, mentioned head coach of the ladies’s group Jonathan Morgan was within the “firing line”, in a written criticism despatched by her household to Sheffield United outlining points allegedly stemming from her relationship with him.
Ms Cusack was “so happy” to go away Leicester, the place she had first labored with Mr Morgan, and was “loving life” till he grew to become her coach once more at Sheffield United in February 2023, the inquest heard.
The courtroom was informed that life had been made “unpleasant” for Ms Cusack whereas she performed for Leicester.
Mr Cusack mentioned his daughter “never came across a character” like Mr Morgan earlier than, together with the “way he dealt with people”.
Her father mentioned she then “fell on her feet” when she joined the South Yorkshire membership in January 2019, the place she additionally began working for United’s advertising and marketing group part-time.
He mentioned: “(She was) dismayed by the possibility of him coming back into her life. I’m going to say, ‘Look, it may have changed. It’s a fresh start for both of you’. I tried to be positive”.
The inquest heard that Ms Cusack stopped being so strict about her nutritious diet earlier than her loss of life, along with her father including: “I think, towards the end, she was demotivated.
“She did not let herself go, or something like that. She was demotivated or deflated.”
Mr Morgan, who is representing himself in the inquest, asked Mr Cusack if he was aware that his daughter left Leicester because she sustained a hamstring injury that limited her playing time.
Mr Cusack said he thought his daughter had not played matches at Leicester because of a “conflict of personalities”.
He also told the inquest that the “worst factor that would have occurred” before Ms Cusack’s death was “the one factor she wished” – signing a contract to play football full-time at Sheffield.
By the summer of 2023, Mr Cusack said, his daughter was “fretting” about her club contract.
He said: “We knew she was not very completely satisfied about how issues had gone. She grew to become unwell in July. I believe that was because of the contract.
“It was strung out most of the summer, that contract.
“My very own concept about that was it was a case of, ‘If we do not supply her a contract, she is going to look elsewhere’.”
He told the inquest that when Ms Cusack signed to become a full-time player, she found it difficult because training hours clashed with her marketing job.
He said: “She was anxious, fearful, how she was going to have the ability to mix the 2 roles. The cash was lower than it was the earlier 12 months. She simply misplaced her joie de vivre.”
Asked about a comment by Ms Cusack that she had “no future”, her father said: “She’s received to surrender one thing. She could not keep on like this. We thought she was depressed, not suicidal.”
The inquest heard that United did not offer any psychotherapy or other support to Ms Cusack and she was given a sick note for time off work by a doctor.
Mr Cusack said that his daughter, who was prescribed medication, felt that if she used her mental health as an “excuse” she “could be out” of the team, and feared being stigmatised and ridiculed.
Mr Cusack added: “It would not be the primary time an organisation stigmatised somebody not nicely sufficient to work.”
The father told the court he found his daughter upstairs in their family home on the evening of her death before he attempted CPR and called for an ambulance.
Mr Cusack told the inquest: “After she handed away, we wished – and nonetheless need – these we expect are accountable to be held accountable.
“Rather than just let it go, ‘what a shame’, I decided I wanted to write down what her problems were, what she told us her problems were, and make a complaint.
“The person within the firing line was Mr Morgan.
“I wanted to air the grievances we had.
“That is no thriller, it is all there.”
Mr Cusack said his daughter was “gifted at most sports activities” but “soccer was her ardour”.
Sheffield United’s personal investigation, which concluded in December 2023, discovered no proof of wrongdoing.
The inquest continues.
