It’s taken me a couple of weeks to find the courage to write this piece. Ahead of Sheffield United’s visit to Craven Cottage this weekend, it felt appropriate to pay tribute to one of football’s finest who was taken far too soon.

I first met Maddy Cusack by accident seven years ago. I was asked by an old friend to give a talk to journalism students at the University of Derby, but in a classic Crawford mix-up walked into the wrong room. Instead, of the room full of students and their lecturer I was promised, I was met by a marketing student, who was packing away her stuff. Maddy realised my mistake before I did and walked me down the hall to the right location. She smiled, wished me luck, and I imparted what little wisdom I’ve acquired to the correct lecture theatre.

An hour later, I was surprised to see the same young lady return to the empty room. When I asked her why, she said: ‘I noticed you had some trouble walking so I wanted to make sure you were okay’. Kindness like that is far from common these days, so I thanked her and as we walked into the sunshine, she asked why I’d visited. I told her that I was worked in the media, writing mostly about football, and had come to talk to some students. We talked a bit about the game, and she shared that she was a tenacious midfielder in the kickabouts she had with her friends.

That was Maddy to a tee. She was bubbly, bright but also humble – the very antidote to a flashy footballer. She could have told me that she’d already been a successful member of the Nottingham Forest academy before signing for Aston Villa or that she played for England’s under-19s at the European Championships. It was only when I was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to cover women’s football that I encountered the very same Maddy Cusack as an energetic engine room enforcer for Birmingham City and then Leicester City. When I challenged her on why she didn’t tell me about her talent when we met on campus, she told me that she always wanted her football to do the talking.

It did. Cusack was the sort of player every successful side needs. She relished a tackle and did the hard, unglamorous yards in the middle park, but nobody could discount her terrific technical ability. Something of a set-piece specialist, she was a threat with the ball at her feet, scoring several stunning goals over the course of a career that was tragically cut short only months after she had put pen to paper on a long-term contract at Brammall Lane. But her peerless playing ability was only one element of why Maddy’s loss has devastated those who knew her.

Maddy made more than a century of first-team appearances for the Blades and was the heartbeat of a side who she probably would have taken into the Super League by the sheer force of her personality alone. But her association with the Blades went deeper than wearing the renowned red and white stripes with distinction. She spent more than two years with United’s award-winning Community Foundation and threw herself into vital work across the Steel City, including in education and as part of the life-changing Premier League Kicks programme, before moving into a marketing role with the football club.

I only covered one game at Brammall Lane as a journalist but was greeted by Maddy’s mega-watt smile as I sought to enter the press area. ‘We don’t normally admit cheeky cockneys,’ she said teasingly, before making an exception for this correspondent. I know from my colleagues that she was as effective in marketing and media as she was in midfield, which is the highest compliment to pay someone who never stopped running. She would do anything for her team-mates and her friends and would be the person you’d be pick to have alongside you when the chips were down.

She was a fantastic ambassador for football and the breadth of the tributes since the sad news was released reminded us of two things: the reach of the women’s game and what a classy, community club the Blades are. United commemorated her movingly on the pitch, as the men’s side wore shirts emblazoned with her name and number, before their game against Newcastle United last week, with her family flanked by legendary winger Tony Currie and women’s skipper Sophie Barker before the fans did their bit: singing for Cusack throughout the eighth minute in recognition of the shirt number she wore with distinction.

Her close friends and family will be able to tell you more about Maddy that I ever could, but I keep coming back to how fortunate I was to walk into the wrong room at the University of Derby. If I hadn’t, I might never have met the magnificent Maddy Cusack, who left a lasting impression on everyone she encountered. Sleep well, Mads, we’ll miss you more than you could ever know.