Terry is new Chelsea players' rep

John Terry has taken over as Chelsea’s players’ union representative to fill the role left vacant when Graeme Le Saux stood down following a series of rows over bonuses.

Le Saux felt his position as the Professional Footballers’ Association representative was untenable earlier this season after a fall-out with chairman Ken Bates.

Le Saux lost his battle with Bates last October for a £20,000 (€29,000) per man bonus for qualifying for Europe through the FA Cup rather than the Premiership.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor revealed at the time that he expected Chelsea’s players’ committee to take over as “on your own, you can become the butt of any recriminations”.

However, six months later, Terry, the club’s vice-captain, has stepped into the breach at least until the end of the year.

“Graeme had his problems with it, as everyone knows, and wanted to give it up, so the PFA was looking for someone new,” the 22-year-old defender told the Evening Standard.

“Bobby Barnes from the PFA rang me up and asked me to take over for the rest of the year.

“He asked me to take over full-time, but I said I’ll do it until the end of the year and then we’ll see. When I spoke to them they said they were looking for someone young and English and there are not many of us at Chelsea!”

Terry, who stands in as captain whenever Marcel Desailly is absent, added: “I haven’t had much to do so far, but it seems fairly easy and it’s a nice responsibility.”