By PETER DONNELLY
October 18 2002

Andy O'Brien has claimed that new defender Titus Bramble has come in for some undeserved stick while at Tyneside and believes that - given time -the former Ipswich man will develop into a high class player. The X-Bradford defender says that young Titus needs to given time and the backing of the fans in order to be success.

He commented,

"Titus was treated unfairly by some people. He came here in the summer from a relatively small club and had to adapt to his new surroundings and the different kinds of pressure you get at a club the size of Newcastle.

"It's something I had to get used to when I came here from Bradford City and I thought I did pretty well, but some people seemingly wanted to have a pop at Titus, which was very harsh in my opinion. He played well in his first few games in the main but was punished for a couple of errors and everybody leapt on that.

O'Brien added,

"The fact that he is an England Under-21 international and an automatic choice for David Platt is a clear indication of his talent and he will continue to improve."

I think it is fair to say that OB is right in what he's saying, and when Bramble does get his chance we should get behind him. Confidence is a massive thing in football.