Titus Bramble

Titus Bramble

Personal information
Full name	Titus Malachi Bramble
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85m)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Wigan Athletic
Number	TBA
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:24, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Titus Malachi Bramble (born July 21, 1981 in Ipswich, Suffolk) is a English football player, currently playing for Wigan Athletic in the FA Premier League. He has a brother, Tesfaye, who also plays professional football, for Stockport County. Bramble qualifies to play for Montserrat through his parents.

Football career

Ipswich Town

He joined Ipswich Town F.C. at a young age and progressed through the ranks, originally playing as a centre forward, scoring 2 goals for the reserves before he made his football league debut in 1998/1999 in a 2-1 away victory at Sheffield United. He went on to make 61 appearances for the club scoring 4 goals.

As a 19 year old he made a strong start to his premiership career as a central defender, after scoring in a 1-0 win over Sunderland FC his then manager George Burley called him a colossus . Even as a 19 year old he was seen as a physically strong player. , and one of his teammates Matt Holland tipped him to make the England Squad.

In December 2001 Bramble rejected a two year extension to his contract which was due to expire in summer 2004.

Bramble was dropped from the first team prior to a 1-0 home defeat to future employers Newcastle United after making several errors in previous matches .

Newcastle United

Titus joined Newcastle United in the FA Premier League in July 2002 for £5 million, vowing at the time to make himself indispensable to then manager Bobby Robson.

Although he is regarded to possess the strength, pace and passing ability to be effective in his position, his infamous pairing with Jean-Alain Boumsong at the heart of Newcastle's defence often included errors and the partnership was jokingly referred to as the "Chuckle brothers live show".

Titus scored a spectacular volleyed goal against Chelsea on 8 May 2006 in a 1-0 victory that secured qualification for the Intertoto Cup .

On August 10 2006, Titus scored another vital goal for Newcastle in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round with a header against Latvian side FK Ventspils. In the return leg as St James's Park, Bramble gave a solid performance in a 0-0 draw allowing the Geordies to progress to the UEFA Cup.

In December 2006 Bramble was admitted into hospital after his injured calf swelled to double its normal size.

On Wednesday 31st January 2007, Bramble returned to action against Aston Villa in the centre of defence along side Steven Taylor. Bramble put in some solid performances against Fulham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and a Man of The Match Performance against Zulte-Waregem.

After another poor performance in Newcastle's 2-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar he was dropped by Glenn Roeder. He looked to be frozen out of Newcastle, due to the return of Craig Moore and consistency of Steven Taylor and Oguchi Onyewu, and no longer part of Roeder's plans.

On May 16, 2007, following the appointment of Sam Allardyce as manager of Newcastle United, Bramble was told his contract would not be renewed and was immediately released. A number of rumoured destinations had been touted in the media including Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic, Fulham, Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic.

Wigan Athletic

Bramble signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer, agreeing to a three-year-deal on 4 June 2007.

Driving

In 2002 Bramble was banned from driving for seven weeks and fined £2,000 for doing 102mph in a BMW.

On August 13 2006 it was reported that Bramble was involved in another car crash in the village of Newton Flotman in Norfolk, while heading for a nightclub in Norwich. His BMW M3 convertible car, carrying five or six people, crashed into a garden wall. No one was hurt in the incident, and Bramble cleared a standard breath test.

External links

• Titus Bramble at Soccerbase
• The Zidane of Defence!