Bramble pictured in 2011 |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Titus Malachi Bramble[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 31 July 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Ipswich, Suffolk, England | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Sunderland | ||
| Number | 19 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–1998 | Ipswich Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1998–2002 | Ipswich Town | 48 | (1) |
| 1999–2000 | → Colchester United (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2002–2007 | Newcastle United | 105 | (3) |
| 2007–2010 | Wigan Athletic | 96 | (5) |
| 2010– | Sunderland | 30 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2000–2002 | England U21 | 10 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:48, 1 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Titus Malachi Bramble (born 31 July 1981) is an English footballer who plays for Sunderland as a defender.
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Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, Bramble started his career at home town club Ipswich Town. After making his debut in the 1998/99 season, Bramble went on to make 48 league appearances for the club, also spending a brief period on loan at Colchester United. He scored four goals for Ipswich, with strikes against Sunderland in the league,[3] Millwall[4] and Coventry[5] in the League Cup and Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup.[6]
Bramble joined Newcastle in July 2002 for £6 million, vowing at the time to make himself indispensable to then manager Sir Bobby Robson.[7]
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.[8][9]
Bramble scored a spectacular volleyed goal against Chelsea on May 8, 2006 in a 1–0 victory that secured qualification for the Intertoto Cup.[10]
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.[11]
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.
Titus Bramble signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer, agreeing to a three-year-deal on 4 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.[12]
Bramble scored a dramatic equaliser against Newcastle United at St. James' Park, the match finishing in a 2–2 draw on 15 November 2008. 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' for Wigan. On 14 July 2009 he was rewarded with a new contract, keeping him at the club until 2012.
On 23 July 2010, Bramble joined Sunderland for a fee believed to be £1 million, and signed a three-year contract at the Stadium of Light. He was labelled as a 'bargain' by many football pundits after his transfer to Sunderland, this has been backed up by his accomplished performances early on in the 2010-2011 season. Games he has played in include the 1-1 draw with Arsenal, the 0-0 draw with Manchester United and the 1-0 victories over Man City and Aston Villa. He scored his first Sunderland goal against Stoke on 18th September 2011
One of his brothers, Tesfaye Bramble, is also a footballer and has represented Montserrat at international level.[13] The two brothers were arrested on suspicion of rape in September 2010[14] with Tesfaye being convicted of the offence, and Titus later being released without charge. In August 2011, Tesfaye was jailed for four and a half years having been found guilty of rape.[15] On 28 September 2011, Bramble was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and possession of a Class A drug.[16] He was suspended by Sunderland following the arrest.[17]
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