The Real Titus Bramble

By: Shaun | August 14th, 2008

He is the laughing stock of the league. He makes mistakes which usually lead to goals. He has lapses of concentration from time to time and he is called all sorts of abusive names. Step forward, Titus Bramble.

When he signed for Newcastle for £5 million in 2002, many thought he was a bright, upcoming future England international. After a torrid time in the North-East, in 2007 he was bought for nothing by Wigan. At that time, many Wigan fans were confused. “Why do we need this moron when we are trying to fix a leaky defence which nearly cost us our premierleague status the season before?”

Those fans who doubted the move were left eating humble pie after Brambles first few performances in the Wigan shirt. He marshalled the defence superbly during early wins over Sunderland and Middlesbrough and the draw with Fulham. Even when things got a bit tough during a barren spell when manager Chris Hutchings was fired, Bramble was one of the players of the season so far.

When Hutchings was removed, Steve Bruce took over and his first match was at home to Manchester City. The game kicked off and then this happened…

And as soon as he missed that kick, the Wigan fans who had been against his signing suddenly found their voices which had been lost during Bramble’s faultless games. The humble pie had been thrown up into the sick bag.

The sensible fans stayed loyal to Bramble but in the stands there was still the odd murmer when he received the ball. “Don’t cock it up Titus, lad” was a common phrase heard about the JJB Stadium. I, like many others were sure that it was just a blip. Everyone makes mistakes but even though Bramble makes a few more than others he is still a quality player on his day. The end of the year rolled out with no more blunders from Titus- but then came the visit of Everton. It was 0-0 and the first half was nearing its conclusion. Wiganers had the belief that the Latics could win this game against a pretty strong Everton opposition. But, this goes and happens…

Hey, at least it wasn’t in the first minute.

Soon after, Bramble was dropped and Wigan (rather convieniently for the Bramble-haters went on a clean sheet run. Emerson Boyce came in to partner Paul Scharner and they seemed to have forged a decent pairing at the back. Its not as if Bramble isn’t allowed near the first team. Its just that those two have performed superbly and will be first-choice for the coming season.

All the abuse from other football fans directed towards Bramble isn’t warranted. He showed last season that he is a capable player. He is big, strong and good in the air as he showed by scoring that header against Aston Villa. Its his previous at Newcastle which has damaged his reputation and surely it can’t be very nice to read about how you are a ‘clown’ or a ’shambles’ when you are trying to do your job well.

One more thing though. In the first few seasons in the elite, Wigan had never managed to get any points off the big four teams. Then, away at Anfield, 1-0 down with about 10 minutes to go, guess who pops up…