Wigan Athletic defender Titus Bramble has slammed his old Newcastle United fans.

The 26-year-old was shipped out to Wigan on a free last summer but regrets not leaving them sooner to escape the over-expectations on Tyneside.

He said: "Maybe I should have moved on from Newcastle to get first-team football earlier. The Newcastle fans aren't as good as everybody says. They think they should be winning things - but why?

"They've not won a trophy for 50 years. The fans got Sam Allardyce the sack there. Can you believe that? The fans up there are powerful but I think he would have brought them success.

"It all got rather personal and it hurt. People just jumped on the bandwagon and started saying this and that about me.

"I used to get quite down but friends and team-mates told me not to let it bother me."