Titus Bramble

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Titus Malachi Bramble (born July 31, 1981 in Ipswich, Suffolk) is an English football player, currently playing as a centre back for Wigan Athletic in the Premier League. He is the youngest of three siblings. One of his brothers, Tesfaye Bramble, is also a footballer and has represented Montserrat at international level.

Newcastle United

Bramble joined Newcastle in July 2002 for £6 million, vowing at the time to make himself indispensable to then manager Sir Bobby Robson.^[1] At the end of the 2003–04 season, readers of the football e-mail newsletter The Fiver voted Bramble as the worst player of the year in the English Premiership. One reader wrote: "Titus's occasional flash of brilliance is heavily outweighed by the total inability to think before attempting what inevitably turns into a hashed clearance, a mistimed tackle, an own goal or a penalty for the opposition."^{[2][opinion needs balancing]}

^[3] Titus scored a spectacular volleyed goal against Chelsea on May 8, 2006 in a 1–0 victory that secured qualification for the Intertoto Cup.^[4]

On 10 August 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, Bramble was admitted into hospital after his injured calf swelled to double its normal size.^[5]

On 31 January 2007, Bramble returned to action against Aston Villa in the centre of defence alongside 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 Taylor and Oguchi Onyewu, and no longer part of Roeder's plans.

Wigan Athletic

Titus Bramble signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer, agreeing to a three-year-deal on 4th of June 2007. On 2 January 2008, Bramble scored a memorable goal at Anfield in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool - a 20-yard strike handing Wigan a late equaliser.^[6]

Despite his reputation for being poor in his time at Newcastle, many people rate Bramble highly and he has achieved 'cult hero' status at the DW Stadium. These views are echoed by Steve Bruce who gave Bramble the captains armband for the first time against former employers Ipswich Town when the two clubs met in the Carling Cup.

Bramble scored a dramatic equaliser against Newcastle United at St. James' Park, the match finishing in a 2-2 draw on 15 November 2008. Since then Bramble's confidence has grown and established himself as a key part of the Wigan defence. Bramble has expressed his gratitude to Wigan manager Steve Bruce for having faith in him when no one else did and for making him the player he is today. His performances throughout the 08/09 season picked him up four awards at the club's awards night, including 'Player of the Year' and 'Player's Player of the Year'. On 14 July 2009 he was rewarded with a new contract, keeping him at the club until 2012 and ending speculation that he may be leaving Wigan for Real Madrid.

References

External links

• Titus Bramble career stats at Soccerbase
• [1]
• [2]