Titus Bramble set for showdown talks with manager Steve Bruce over Sunderland future Titus Bramble will meet the Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce, and club officials on Thursday to discuss his future after a drug test revealed there were no illegal substances in his system. Bramble remains on police bail following his arrest on suspicion of sexual assault and possession of a Class A drug in Yarm, near Middlesbrough, last month. The centre-back was suspended following the arrest while the club carried out their own internal investigation, which included a rigorous drug test by the Football Association. Bramble was banned from the training ground for a fortnight before returning to the North East and has spent the last week training on his own with fitness staff monitoring his condition. Bruce had refused to contemplate bringing the defender back into the squad until it had been determined whether he had taken drugs, although it is far from certain he is willing to forgive the player and restore him to the side. Although the results have cleared him of taking any illegal substances, Sunderland are still concerned by Brambleâs behaviour, while police could still charge him with possession if the evidence is strong enough to indicate they were definitely his. Bruce was highly critical of the former Newcastle and Wigan defender for going out and drinking heavily in a nightclub less than 48 hours after Sunderland suffered a 2-1 Premier League defeat at Norwich City. Speaking shortly after the playerâs arrest, Bruce said: âYou get a disappointment in the pit of your stomach. Itâs disrespectful to the club, myself, but also to the supporters. âThere were 1,000 who travelled to Norwich, and you ask each and every one of them should Titus Bramble be out in a nightclub and they would all say ânoâ. âWith the rewards they [footballers] get, they alienate themselves, they should show more responsibility. In Titusâ case, there is a police investigation, but he shouldnât be in that situation.â Bruce has already read the riot act to the 30-year-old, who was told he had brought shame on himself as well as the club. Bramble had been hoping to extend his contract, which has another 18 months to run, at the Stadium of Light, although it remains to be seen what further action the club takes, despite the negative drug test results. Bramble is due to meet Cleveland Police on Dec 5 to discover whether he is to be charged with an offence.
Hello Scatty, I find myself torn on this one right now. When it first kicked off I was all for showing Titus the door but now I wonder if it would be cutting our nose off. If we have an injury to any of the CB would it cost us? Then again we have Brown,Turner, O'Shea and Laing who can all do CB so we could get rid. The ideal for me would be keep him as back up then buy a new CB in January and move him on, I think.
Well he cost us a million so we should be able to et that back. To who, a good experienced prem defender should be in demand, Bolton if they sell or one of the newly promoted teams. Maybe we could do a BOGOF and through Nuggsy in.
Like you Syd, I too am torn about how I feel about Titus. On the one hand my philisophy has always been that people are innocent until proven guilty; but on the other hand he appears to get embroiled in these 'situations' far too often, and it makes me think that it is only the fact that he has loads of money which has enabled him to get away with things. I firmly believe that Bruce is an hounerable man, and will try and do what's best for the club.
For me MrRAW he is guilty, not of the crime but of being there in the first place, and like you say not for the first time. His sexual habbits and drug taking are for the courts, his lack of judgement are for the club.
Simple as this. You have brought the club and its fans into disrepute and as a consequence you are in breach of contract. You are now dismissed with out notice. That should be the conversation. It would be in any other job.
If proved guilty in court then this If proved innocent then he should be re-instated. Until the court case he should be kept out of the first team.
but the point is vegas forget any court case, I think its 3 times now he has found himself in the wrong place, bad luck or bad judgement.
I have very mixed feelings both in terms of what's best for Sunderland and what's 'right'. As far as football goes my head says we should keep him, it's not like we have enough strength in depth to kick him to the kerb without a replacement in my opinion. But having said that I hate the sort of publicity that he has attracted and my heart says get rid of him. As far as more basic morals and doing the right thing go... again my gut feeling it that he's a complete shower and a bad-hat of the first water. But my head says that footballers do attract publicity seeking low-lifes too and that although his record looks terrible this second set of alligations could have been engineered by somone who sees his as an 'easy target'. The simple fact is we don't know and until we do know more we should withold our worst scorn. As far as the drug charges go I refuse to get on any high horses... I've never used class A drugs myself but I know people who have and in and of itself it does not make them intrinsically bad people, plus I do regulary use quite a dangerous and powerful drug called alchohol so... I'll give him a pass on that. Actually the use of of drugs - legal, illegal and questionable througout the sporting world so so endemic I wonder if they shouldn't just change the damn rules! So my heart says there's no smoke without fire and we should show him the door my head says we need him and he is innocent until proven guilty
Bramble is at least guilty of being bloody stupid. As for the criminal stuff, he has to be found guilty for action by the club to be justified. Can't see a contract extension coming his way, though...
simple, he should be sacked. Any other person in a working environment would be sacked. I would be sacked from my place, you would be.. so what is the difference? He can't sue the club, won't get compensation as it is a rightful sacking. I also doubt any prem/championship club would take him on being caught 3 times. How would that look on your CV, and its not like he can lie. If he doesn't get sacked that will be a disgrace. Simple as.
Sorry but I don`t think you`re right in terms of it being a "rightful" sacking - in terms of the "evidence" 1. He was in a night club after playing piss poorly the day before - poor thinking BUT not "misconduct" in an employment law sense 2. There is an allegation he had drugs in his possession - at present the evidence seems he had not consumed any; so far as I know the tests they can carry out are rigourous and can look at what has been consumed over a reasonable period in the past. I struggle to see how he could be disciplined for "not taking" drugs! 3. If it can be proved that he was "in possession" and thereby commits a criminal offence - the question is whether this amounts to "misconduct" either under the disciplinary code of the Club (I guess it should be) or not. Whether any such dismissal would be fair is not, however, straight forward - the issue is whether it (the fact of the possession) would impact on his ability to do his job...not sure it would. So, regardless of whether I think Titus should be got rid of (I think we should move him on by the way) it is not as simple as saying "you`re sacked - **** off" and you can`t sue us - I think he has an arguable case, pots of cash to fund litigation and (assuming no club picks him up) little else to fill his time with. If we do get rid other than by selling/loaning him then there will be a pay off - how much, not sure. Happy Days
So your saying that being arrested on possession of a class A drug (basically he either had drugs or not) then that would not be a rightful sacking? surely at a place of work this warrants a rightful sacking..does it not? And if he is charged, then surely we sack him, then we won't have to pay out
AJ - again - not as simple in my view - possession - didn`t have it at work, if charged - so what - not convicted... The decider will be the position in terms of the club's own disciplinary rule book - what does that say? If it doesn`t cover it (it bloody well should!) then there would be risks in dismissing him and given his salary level any claim would be significant and would be settled... To try and get some perspective on it - say you were in the same position (albeit not as a premier league footballer) and had been wrongly accused of the same thing and your employer sacked you - would n`t you look to bring a claim especially if The possession was not at work You could prove you didn`t take any drugs and You totally denied the indecent assault allegation Add to that the fact that Titus is super rich and can afford lawyers... claim central if you ask me - I`d represent him! I still think we need to off-load him though - bad news Happy Days
