MOTHERWELL No.2 Steve Robinson insists Mark McGhee has helped restore the club’s identity since coming in as manager earlier this season.

The Northern Irishman was brought to Lanarkshire last February by Ian Baraclough who was in the middle of a recruitment drive to try and stave off relegation at Fir Park.

As well as recruiting a new assistant, the Well boss also signed a raft of players during the January transfer window to swell his squad, many coming from the lower reaches of English football.

While a handful still remain, his successor has sought to look for the talent already within Motherwell’s youth set up and has given teenagers Ben Hall, Chris Cadden and Dom Thomas the platform to impress.

“I think the biggest difference from this time last year is that when I first came we had a big, big squad so there were a lot of people not playing,” said Robinson. “That creates an environment that’s difficult to work in at times because there’s a lot of unhappy players because everyone wants to be involved.

“Now the squad is a lot smaller and we’ve got a lot of good older pros that control the dressing room for you and we’ve got younger boys coming through like Chris Cadden, Ben Hall, Dom Thomas and Allan Campbell graduating from the Under 20s.

“They are all on the verge of things and that’s the remit of the club to keep its identity by bringing these young boys through combined with the likes of Stephen Pearson and big Mick [Stephen McManus] who can help these boys along.”

“So the biggest difference is that it’s a smaller tighter-knit squad and there’s a lot of ability, as proved by days lie when we went away to Celtic and won. It’s just a little consistency we need to look for now.”

Robinson is one of many around Fir Park enjoying life under McGhee.

After being brought in by Baraclough, the Northern Ireland coach admitted he was nervous about his own future as he waited anxiously to see if the new manager would want to bring in his own assistant.

As it transpired, McGhee was happy to keep the former Bournemouth man in his camp, and Robinson confesses it has been an easy transition.

“We hit it off very well. Obviously he’s been there and done it and worked with top players,” he said.

“When a new manager comes in there is naturally a bit of uncertainty because people usually bring their own guys with them. Mark chose not to do that and we’ve worked well, he lets me take the vast majority of training.

“I know he spoke to Michael O’Neil and I presume he said half decent things because I’m still here!

“He’s come in and put his own stamp on things and I’m guided by what he wants me to do. That’s great to work with different managers and see the different viewpoints they have on things.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s trip to Dens Park, a game that could take Well level on points with their hosts who sit in seventh place, Robinson added: “It is tight at the bottom – there’s only one point between eighth place and 11th – so we need to get moving.

“Starting with Saturday’s match, we have a run of fixtures which will give us the opportunity to kick on because we’re away to Partick Thistle on Tuesday and then we’re at home to Kilmarnock and away to Dundee United after that.

“We created the chances to start another run when we played Ross County but we didn’t take them and we lost sloppy goals, which is something we need to stop doing.

“But these next four games – five, if you include our Scottish Cup tie against Inverness here – can set us up for the rest of the season.”