Maddy Cusack did not want Sheffield United to know about talks with club’s former chaplain, inquest told

Dr Delroy Hall said Maddy Cusack spoke to him on multiple occasions and asked three or four times: ‘Please don’t tell anyone I’m talking to you.’ Photograph: Nick Potts/PA View image in fullscreen Dr Delroy Hall said Maddy Cusack spoke to him on multiple occasions and asked three or four times: ‘Please don’t tell anyone I’m talking to you.’ Photograph: Nick Potts/PA Maddy Cusack did not want Sheffield United to know about talks with club’s former chaplain, inquest told Dr Delroy Hall said Cusack struggled to juggle two jobs Cusack was found dead at her home in September 2023 The former club chaplain at Sheffield United has told an inquest into Maddy Cusack’s death that she repeatedly asked him not to inform the club that she had been speaking to him. Dr Delroy Hall volunteered in the role at Sheffield United from 2017 until November 2023, about two months after Cusack’s death on 20 September 2023. Hall told the court on Wednesday that he thought players would come to him to discuss problems as a “last resort”. Cusack spoke to him multiple times in August 2023, including specifically on 23 August, and Hall said she asked him three or four times: “Please don’t tell anyone I’m talking to you.” Maddy Cusack and players were let down by Sheffield United, inquest told Read more Hall told the court he did not believe Cusack seemed at risk of any self-harm but she had told him she was feeling pressures caused by trying to juggle both her football and marketing careers. She also worked for the club’s marketing department on a dual contract. Hall said: “Training and working meant she was occupied all seven days a week.” Hall recollected that he told Cusack her working hours were “not sustainable”, adding: “I felt she was doing a lot.” He recalled that she had also mentioned having to drive four hours to see her girlfriend, who had moved to Lewes FC in East Sussex in the summer of 2023. He told the court he had offered her advice on coping mechanisms such as breathing techniques. Hall added that he had resigned from his voluntary role in November 2023 – after providing support to some of Cusack’s teammates in the wake of her death – because he no longer knew who he was supposed to report to at the club. The court also heard evidence from two senior figures at Sheffield United on Wednesday: the chief executive, Stephen Bettis, and the head of football administration, Carl Shieber. Both men were asked the reasons why it had taken so long for the club to inform the women’s players that they were transitioning to full-time status, after the end of the 2022-23 season, because earlier in the inquest the court heard evidence that that “rushed” transition had caused stress for players and staff. The court was told on Wednesday that the delay had been partly down to a need to wait for confirmation of the men’s team securing promotion to the Premier League, which was clinched on 26 April 2026, and then board approval for the funding, and that it would not have been p