Daniel Taylor
The Athletic
His first two submissions are exclusive investigations which broke two of the most significant stories of the year - the circumstances that led to Sheffield United women’s player Maddy Cusack taking her own life, and the exposing of Jonathan Morgan, a prominent women’s football coach, for having a relationship with one of his teenage players.
Daniel’s investigation into the death of Cusack, aged just 27, was a case study in how to construct an agenda-setting news story. He won the trust of Maddy’s family, sourced a seven-page complaint made by her father, David, to the club about how his daughter had been treated in her final months, specifically by Morgan, and spoke to many of her friends and team-mates to build a picture of her as a person and player.
He ultimately broke the story that the Football Association was preparing to launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Maddy’s death and the family’s belief that her mental health issues had been caused by her treatment by Morgan.
His second story also revolves around Morgan, this time exposing how an “immoral” relationship with a teenage player at his previous club, Leicester City, led to his sacking by Sheffield United.
United’s decision was taken after Daniel presented them with a dossier of evidence of Morgan’s secret three-year relationship with a player who said she was 17 when it started.
Again, Daniel was only able to break this shocking story because of his groundwork over the previous months, including the Maddy case. His sensitive but forensic approach also reassured the woman at the centre of the story and her family that her story was safe in his hands.
Finally, Daniel’s interview with Jimmy Aggrey, the whistleblower who exposed systemic racism at Chelsea Football Club in the 1980s, is proof of the power of perseverance.
This was a story that could only be told if Aggrey’s anonymity - granted to him by the High Court in 2018 as part of a civil suit against Chelsea - was waived.
Daniel worked painstakingly to draft a submission to the court, including statements from Chelsea and Aggrey himself. Once the court agreed, Aggrey was free to tell his story for the first time.
The interview was a tough but necessary read, containing shocking details of the abuse Aggrey suffered from two high-profile Chelsea coaches, Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams, and how it led him to attempt suicide.