Motherwell manager Mark McGhee believes that many of the Fir Park class of 2016 are ready to graduate to his first team after they secured the Scottish Youth Cup.

The feel-good factor around the club as the senior side have risen to fourth in the Premiership was heightened by ‘Well legend Stephen Craigan’s under-20 side’s Hampden triumph.

The most pleasing aspect for McGhee though was that the core of the winning side underlined their first-team credentials, as he looks to further exploit the already well-worn path from the youth squad to his starting eleven.

He said: “We’re delighted for them and for Crags, and we’ve got a cup. Somebody asked me at Hampden last night if we had somewhere to put it! We’ve got plenty room for it, don’t worry about that.

“Every single one of the first team were at the game last night without exception to support the boys and they were equally as excited for them. Of course, there was a couple of the first-team boys playing.

“Ongoing, we know a lot about these boys and who we think have got longer futures and who we think hasn’t, so that only reinforces it.

“The most important thing for us is that these young boys see their mates going in the first-team, and know that they’ve got an opportunity to do that.

“As far as winning the cup is concerned, I don’t think it will have a direct effect on career outcomes, but it gives them confidence and belief, and it helps the prestige of the club. It’s good for everyone.

“It’s a good group in terms of the numbers we see that will one day be in the first-team, the percentage is high.

“Sometimes you have a group and you think that none of them will ever make the first team and they all eventually leave, so here we have a group where a lot of them are potentially first-team players.”

The departure of owner Les Hutchison has merely served to heighten the need for Motherwell to develop their own talent.

While McGhee has reservations about pitching too many youngsters in before the end of the season, he has challenged the young players to show him in pre-season that they deserve a place in his plans over the longer term.

“It was huge part of what Les Hutchison asked me to do, to try and get the boys in the team as early as possible,” McGhee said.

“We’ve introduced our ‘Pride’ programme to accelerate these boys through the academy with Scott Leitch and into Crags’ under 20s, and get as many of them into the first-team as possible.

“Just because Les isn’t involved now, I’m not about to start looking for a different way of doing things, we’re going to stick to that.

“In that team last night, off the top of my head Ben Hall is already in the first team, the young boy David Ferguson is playing games at Airdrie in their first-team and I think he’s a good player and has the potential to be in our first-team.

“I would have thought that possibly six of that team from last night have long-term futures at the football club.

“We have a clear picture of who we think is going to be ready. Every summer there is a surprise, someone will pop up who has physically or mentally developed and come back after pre-season and do more than we would have expected.

“It’s a difficult one just to say that we’re going to leave out two or three boys to give others an opportunity, but with pre-season coming, we’ve got good games where the likes of Allan Campbell and Luke Watt can show us where they’re at and how they are developing for the first-team.”