A former Sheffield United goalkeeper testified at Chesterfield Coroner's Court that her concerns regarding manager Jonathan Morgan were dismissed by the club, which told her, “He’s the manager, he can do what he wants.” Nina Wilson, who played for Sheffield United between July 2021 and June 2023, was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of teammate Maddy Cusack, who was found dead at her home on September 20, 2023.
Wilson described Cusack as a person who was “always there” for her teammates, but revealed that she had “given up football” due to her experiences at Sheffield United. Wilson believes Cusack's death was “definitely preventable” and recalled an instance where she attempted to raise concerns about Morgan's behavior. Other teams' players reportedly referred to Morgan's teams as “Morgan’s cult.”
"We were all in a small changing room and when I tried to escalate my concerns I was essentially told, ‘He’s the manager, he can do what he wants.’ Maddy was aware of that," Wilson told the court.
Wilson also detailed how players not selected for the starting lineup were instructed to train separately from the team, a practice she described as “not normal.” Morgan's former assistant coach, Luke Turner, stated he could not recall this happening.
Wilson also spoke about her own mental health struggles prior to leaving the club in the summer of 2023. She stated she was unaware of the mental health services provided by Sheffield United and expressed that she would have utilized them if she had known about them. "I was typically a very confident person the season before (2022-23)," Wilson said. "I was very straight talking. I was quite like Maddy. I suddenly became very nervous about things that I was doing. I was worried things were being fed back that weren’t true about me. There was really no clarity for players, and I think that put everyone on edge and made them question what they were doing all the time."
Another former teammate, Naomi Hartley, testified that she believed many people were intimidated by Morgan and that when Cusack stopped enjoying football, she lost her only release. "Football was her release and, when she stopped enjoying football, she no longer had a release," Hartley said.
When questioned about an incident where a player left a match in tears, followed by the team being forced to rewatch the entire game without changing out of their kits, Turner stated he could not recall the specific event. Turner also mentioned he was unaware of any issues concerning Morgan's character prior to his appointment, only hearing that he was