IT may be payback time for Glen Chapple.

Being the only red-head in the Lancashire squad, he received some almighty stick from his teammates during the Championship win over Sussex in June when they discovered a pub in Hove called the Ginger Pig.

And rumour has it he turned up for training at Old Trafford not soon after to find a pig's head in his locker!

But it would be a brave man now to try anything like that on Lancashire's new captain.

After 18 years at Lancs, Chappie has been asked to take over from Stuart Law, told earlier this week that he wouldn't be offered a new contract.

And being Lancashire through and through, even though he was born in Yorkshire, 34-year-old Chapple had no hesitation in accepting.

His excitement was, however, tempered by the fact he has the job at the expense of his mate.

"I had a phone call on Saturday night explaining what was happening and was asked whether I would consider it," said Chapple.

"I had no hesitation as far as whether I would like the job. But with people being let go it is slightly sensitive.

"It was a surprise. At the end of the day Stuey is a good friend of mine and a superb player and, along with the rest of the lads, I will be sorry to see him go, we will miss him.

"But you sort your contracts out with the club and players have nothing to do with each other's contracts.

Question

"Hopefully I will speak to him soon and we will carry on being mates and keep in touch."

As with all new Lancashire captains, the obvious question about whether he is the man to finally break the club's now 74-year drought without an outright County Championship title rears its ugly head.

And having suffered more heartbreak than most as near miss has followed near miss since his debut in 1992, Chappie knows full well what the Championship means to the club.

"Everyone who gets the job as Lancashire captain has the potential to be the first person to win the Championship for a considerable amount of time, and I am no different," said Chapple, who is one of a rare breed to take 500 wickets and score 5,000 runs in first-class cricket for the club.

"It is a massive job and a privilege to be asked to do it. It is something I am going to take very seriously and hopefully achieve some success.

"But it is early days and it is a little bit soon to start talking about what we are going to do.

"Everything will develop in due course and I am sure in the next few weeks I will start to think about how I am going to approach the job."

Having been in the job for just over 24 hours, not surprisingly, Chapple still has a lot to think about.

Last year Law didn't go to Cricket committee meetings like previous skippers had, and decided he didn't need a vice-captain.

Merit

The new boy at the helm will decide over the next few weeks how he will play it. But he does see the merit in a vice-captain, especially considering how little captaincy experience he has.

Surprisingly, before last season, Chapple had never skippered the side. He filled in for Law in a pre-season friendly against Yorkshire at Old Trafford, and for two Pro40 games.

And he admits it has never been a burning ambition of his.

"It is something the right person will get at the right time," he revealed. "There have been years gone by when I didn't consider myself the right man for the job, and quite right.

"The club deem that I am now, and that is superb news.

"In days gone by I wasn't a senior player and we had a lot of senior players around with good captaincy potential. Perhaps now is the right time."

And Chapple believes his form won't suffer with the added responsibility.

He said: "If at any stage I feel I shouldn't be opening the bowling, then we will take those decisions. But I don't envisage anything changing drastically.

"Even when you are not captain you just want to achieve as much as you can on the field."

Meanwhile Law, who has been linked with a move to Yorkshire, has said: "I am gutted and they have let me down."

What do you think? Have your say.