STEPHEN PEARSON has urged the Motherwell board to consider the future of the club – and pull out all the stops to keep their out-of-contract veterans.

A chunk of the Fir Park first-team only have one game left to play on their current deal, including captain Keith Lasley, defenders Stevie Hammell and Stephen McManus and experienced forward Scott McDonald.

Contract negotiations have been on going between both parties, but SportTimes understands around a 30% wage cut has been offered to some as Motherwell adjust their finances following the withdrawal of majority shareholder Les Hutchison ahead of a proposed Well Society takeover.

This backbone to the team has been crucial to the club’s top-six push and has also been fundamental in the development of youth stars like Chris Cadden, Ben Hall and Dom Thomas.

Pearson acknowledges blooding youngsters from the Youth Cup winning team is crucial to Motherwell’s long-term success, but has stressed the importance of keeping Lasley and Co. around to help nurture that talent.

“You saw on Wednesday the contributions of Stevie Hammell, Keith Lasley, Stephen McManus and Scott McDonald,” said the midfielder. “The older boys are pivotal to this club on the pitch as well as off it.

“I think the club should be doing all they can to keep a hold of these guys because if they were to go it would leave a big void to fill.

“It’s important you have the right mixture. The boys that are out of contract are all first-team regulars so if you take them out you are then struggling to put a team together.

“I think the club are doing all they can to keep them and hopefully they can come to some sort of an agreement because it’s crucial that they are kept to help bring the younger boys through.

“The young boys are the future of the club and it’s important they have that guidance there.”

Pearson may already be contracted up for next season at Fir Park but he did his pals no harm at all in arguing the case for his generation on Wednesday night as the experienced contingent in Mark McGhee’s squad shone brightly in the Highlands.

The 33-year-old scored either side of a Lasley drive to claim a 3-1 away win against Ross County that secured Motherwell’s fifth place in the Ladbrokes Premiership season.

Coming off the back of two straight defeats, the victory helps breathe confidence back into a team that will round off the season this Sunday at Parkhead as Celtic kickstart a title party.

The celebrations are of little concern to Pearson, however, who is going to his former home ground in mischievous mood.

He said: “It would be nice to get another two goals!

“We are going there to put on a good show. We’re not going there to play second fiddle so that’s we’ll try and win the game.

“It was a great victory for us coming off the back of two poor results and performances. We haven’t had a great record in Dingwall either so it was nice to get a good three points.

“You want to go to Parkhead with confidence and this win will help that. We can also take confidence from the fact we’ve already won there this season.

“We can look to that and try and emulate it. It’s about pride, you want to win. The belief is there, especially after a good performance against Ross County where we passed the ball well and scored good goals.

“It’s a normal game for us so preparation will just be the same.”