Maddy Cusack was fearful of reporting her concerns, mother tells inquest

• Sheffield Utd player ‘felt she couldn’t speak’ to hierarchy

• Coroner told of serious loss of club’s medical data

The mother of Maddy Cusack told an inquest it is too difficult for women footballers to report grievances, for fear of being blacklisted, and said her daughter would still be alive if “her nemesis” Jonathan Morgan had not been appointed as Sheffield United’s manager.

Deborah Cusack said Morgan, who is scheduled to give evidence at Cusack’s inquest on Monday, made her daughter “feel as if she had to give up football”, prior to her being found dead at the family’s home in Derbyshire on 20 September 2023. Thursday’s hearing also heard there had been an “industrial-scale” loss of players’ sensitive medical data involving the records-keeping system used for women’s footballers at multiple clubs, including missing records for Cusack. The club’s doctor at the time, Subhashis Basu, admitted that he had failed to adequately report the data breach.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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