PLAYER PROFILE

Titus Bramble

Position: Defence

Height: 6'1

Weight: 13st 10lbs

Date of Birth: 1981-07-21 Ipswich, England

Titus Bramble

Titus Bramble joined Ipswich as a trainee and made his League debut as a 17-year-old at Sheffield United on December 20 1998.

He made 62 appearances for his home town club, contributing to their remarkable first campaign back in the Premiership in which they finished fifth and secured a UEFA Cup place.

But he was disappointed to slip in the pecking order as injuries struck in what proved to be a disastrous year for George Burley's side, and moved to Newcastle facing the task of proving himself all over again.

Sir Bobby Robson paid his old club £4.5million after for Bramble in July 2002. The 20-year-old put pen to paper on a five-year deal after spending the two weeks on Tyneside attempting to prove his fitness after undergoing surgery on a heel problem at the end of the 2001/02 season.

The Magpies erred on the side of caution because of the player's injury, waiting until they were satisfied that the problem had been resolved once and for all before they were prepared to seal the deal.

Bramble made his debut for Newcastle in August 2002, and went on to have a marvellous first season with the club. He established himself in the first team and made over 20 appearances.

Bramble played well throughout the 2003/04 campaign, making over 40 appearances and picking up nine yellow cards along the way!

His 2004/05 season continued in such fine fettle. He played 32 games and scored once - the winner in a 2-1 win against Southampton - and then netted twice in 28 games during the 05/06 campaign.

A reasonably successful season followed in 2006/07 as he played 29 times and scored once. However, once Sam Allardyce was named Magpies boss in May 2007, Bramble was released and he joined Wigan Athletic in June.

A few more high-profile mistakes followed in 2007/08, but he proved himself a useful utlity man, and even managed to find the net.