Titus Malachi Bramble (born 31 July 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back.

Titus Bramble
Bramble playing for Sunderland in 2011
Personal information
Full name Titus Malachi Bramble[1]
Date of birth (1981-07-31) 31 July 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth Ipswich, England
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
1996–1998 Ipswich Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2002 Ipswich Town 48 (1)
1999–2000Colchester United (loan) 2 (0)
2002–2007 Newcastle United 105 (3)
2007–2010 Wigan Athletic 96 (5)
2010–2013 Sunderland 47 (1)
2017 Stowmarket Town 1 (0)
Total 299 (10)
International career
2000–2002 England U21 10 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Bramble played in the Premier League for over thirteen consecutive seasons from 2000 and 2013, representing Ipswich Town, Newcastle United, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland. After being released by Sunderland in 2013, he spent several years in a coaching capacity at the Ipswich Town academy, with whom he began his career in 1998. He had a short spell as a player coach at Stowmarket Town in 2017.[3]

At international level, he made 10 appearances for the England under-21s from 2000 and 2002.

Playing career

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Ipswich Town

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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,[4] Bramble went on to make 48 league appearances for the club, spending a brief period on loan at Colchester United over the 1999–2000 season.[5] He scored four goals for Ipswich,[5] with strikes against Sunderland in the league,[6] Millwall and Coventry in the League Cup and Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup.[7][8][9]

Newcastle United

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Bramble joined Newcastle in July 2002 for £6 million following Ipswich's relegation from the Premier League, vowing at the time to make himself indispensable to then manager Sir Bobby Robson.[10]

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 Premier League.[11] Bramble scored a volley against league champions Chelsea on 8 May 2006 that secured qualification for the Intertoto Cup.[12]

On 10 August 2006, Bramble scored another vital goal for Newcastle in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round with a header against Latvian side FK Ventspils.[13]

In December, Bramble was admitted into hospital after his injured calf swelled to double its normal size.[14] On 31 January 2007, Bramble returned to action against Aston Villa in the centre of defence alongside Steven Taylor.[15]

Wigan Athletic

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Bramble signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer, agreeing to a three-year deal on 4 June 2007.[16] On 2 January 2008, he scored at Anfield in a 1–1 draw against Liverpool – a 20-yard strike handing Wigan a late equaliser.[17]

Bramble scored an equaliser against former club Newcastle United at St. James' Park on 15 November 2008. The match ended in a 2–2 draw.[18] His performances throughout the 2008–09 season earned him four awards at the club's awards night, including 'Player of the Year' and 'Player's Player of the Year'.[19] On 14 July 2009, he extended his contract with Wigan until 2012.[20]

Sunderland

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On 23 July 2010, Bramble joined Sunderland for £1 million. He signed a three-year contract at the Stadium of Light, and was reunited with his former manager at Wigan, Steve Bruce.[21] He scored his first and only Sunderland goal in a 4–0 win against Stoke City on 18 September 2011.[22] Bramble was one of seven players released by Sunderland at the end of the 2012–13 Premier League season.[23] He played 51 games for Sunderland.[5]

After being released by Sunderland, he trained with West Ham United playing in their 6–2 pre-season win against Cork City.[24] He returned to Ipswich in the pre-season to train, making his playing return in a game against Barnet but was not offered a contract.[25]

Stowmarket Town

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In August 2017, having been without a club for four years, Bramble joined Stowmarket Town, of the Eastern Counties Football League, as a player-coach.[3]

Coaching career

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Bramble was appointed Under-11 coach at Ipswich Town. In November 2014, he said it was a "disgrace" to apply the "Rooney Rule" to English football for compulsory ethnic minority management candidate consideration.[26]

Personal life

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One of his brothers, Tesfaye Bramble, was a footballer and has represented Montserrat at international level.[27] The two brothers were arrested on suspicion of rape in September 2010[28] with Tesfaye being convicted of the offence,[29] and Titus later being released without charge. On 28 September 2011, Bramble was temporarily suspended by Sunderland,[30] after having been arrested on allegations of sexual assault and possession of a Class A drug.[31] He was cleared of these charges on 31 May 2012.[32]

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Ipswich Town 1998–99[4] First Division 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
1999–2000[33] First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2000–01[34] Premier League 26 1 2 0 5 2 33 3
2001–02[35] Premier League 18 0 2 0 0 0 4[a] 1 24 1
Total 48 1 5 0 5 2 4 1 62 4
Colchester United (loan) 1999–2000[33] Second Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Newcastle United 2002–03[36] Premier League 16 0 0 0 0 0 8[b] 0 24 0
2003–04[37] Premier League 29 0 1 0 0 0 11[a] 3 41 3
2004–05[38] Premier League 19 1 4 0 2 0 7[a] 0 32 1
2005–06[39] Premier League 24 2 3 0 1 0 0 0 28 2
2006–07[15] Premier League 17 0 0 0 1 0 13[c] 1 31 1
Total 105 3 8 0 4 0 39 4 156 7
Wigan Athletic 2007–08[40] Premier League 26 2 1 0 0 0 27 2
2008–09[18] Premier League 35 1 1 0 3 0 39 1
2009–10[41] Premier League 35 2 3 0 0 0 38 2
Total 96 5 5 0 3 0 0 0 104 5
Sunderland 2010–11[42] Premier League 23 0 0 0 1 0 24 0
2011–12[43] Premier League 8 1 0 0 0 0 8 1
2012–13[44] Premier League 16 0 2 0 1 0 19 0
Total 47 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 51 1
Stowmarket Town 2017–18[45] ECL Premier Division 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Career total 299 10 20 0 14 2 43 5 376 17
  1. ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ Two appearances in UEFA Intertoto Cup, eleven appearances and one goal in UEFA Cup

Honours

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Newcastle United

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Statistics" (PDF). Premier League. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  2. ^ "Premier League Player Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  3. ^ a b Law, James (11 August 2017). "Titus Bramble: Ex-Newcastle United & Sunderland defender joins Stowmarket Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Games played by Titus Bramble in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Titus Bramble at Soccerbase  
  6. ^ "Ipswich see off Sunderland". BBC Sport. 26 August 2000. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  7. ^ "Ipswich 5–0 Millwall (Agg: 5–2)". BBC Sport. 26 September 2000. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  8. ^ "Ipswich see off Sky Blues again". BBC Sport. 28 November 2000. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  9. ^ "Bramble maintains Ipswich record". BBC Sport. 20 September 2001. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  10. ^ "BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Newcastle United | Bramble bids for starring role". BBC News. 4 July 2002. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  11. ^ Smyth, Rob (21 May 2004). "Underdogs, and Prized horses | News | Guardian Unlimited Football". London: Football.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  12. ^ "Newcastle 1–0 Chelsea". BBC News. 7 May 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  13. ^ "FK Ventspils 0–1 Newcastle". BBC Sport. 10 August 2006. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  14. ^ "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Newcastle United | Bramble in hospital after scare". BBC News. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  15. ^ a b "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Wigan sign Bramble and Sibierski". BBC News. 4 June 2007.
  17. ^ Fletcher, Paul (2 January 2008). "BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Liverpool 1–1 Wigan". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  18. ^ a b "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Bramble wins four awards". www.wigantoday.net. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  20. ^ "Titus Bramble and Emmerson Boyce extend Wigan contracts to 2012". The Guardian. London. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  21. ^ Stewart, Rob (21 July 2010). "Titus Bramble to be reunited with Steve Bruce at Sunderland". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  22. ^ "Sunderland 4–0 Stoke". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  23. ^ "Summer transfer window: Ins and Outs". Premier League. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  24. ^ "West Ham beat Cork City 6-2 in first pre-season friendly". Sky Sports. 7 July 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  25. ^ "Ipswich Town sign Christophe Berra on a two-year deal, ending their interest in Titus Bramble". Ipswich Star. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  26. ^ "Kieron Dyer & Titus Bramble do not want 'Rooney Rule'". BBC Sport. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  27. ^ "Soccer: International call for Blues striker". Gazette. 9 November 2004. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  28. ^ "Sunderland's Titus Bramble arrested over rape claim". BBC News. 22 September 2010.
  29. ^ "Brother of footballer Titus Bramble guilty of rape". BBC. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  30. ^ "Sunderland defender Titus Bramble suspended following arrest". The Independent. 29 September 2011. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  31. ^ "Premier League – Sunderland's Bramble arrested". Yahoo Sport.
  32. ^ "Sunderland's Titus Bramble cleared of sex assaults". BBC News. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  33. ^ a b "Games played by Titus Bramble in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  34. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  35. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  36. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  37. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  38. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  39. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  40. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  41. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  42. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  43. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  44. ^ "Games played by Titus Bramble in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  45. ^ "Titus Bramble – Players – Stowmarket Town FC". www.stowmarkettownfc.co.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  46. ^ "L'strom 0-3 Newcastle (agg 1-4)". BBC Sport. 22 July 2006. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  47. ^ "Players of the Year". Wigan Athletic F.C. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
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