IT may be pushing it to label Allan Campbell as one of the elder statesmen of the Fir Park dressing room given that he is only 20, but such is the make-up of the Motherwell team these days, he may well qualify for such a title.

His younger team-mates, Jake Hastie and David Turnbull, may be the ones stealing the limelight during Motherwell’s six-game winning streak in the league, but as Campbell is only too happy to point out, what they are bringing to the side wouldn’t be possible without the likes of him quietly grafting away behind them in the midfield engine room.

It isn’t only on the park though that Campbell can help his friends, who are just a year younger and came through the Fir Park ranks with him. Having made the same journey and now having made 71 appearances for the club, he is perfectly placed to pass on advice about how he handled his sudden elevation to being a first-team regular.

That all starts with handling the transition to the senior dressing room, a move Hastie and Turnbull have only just now made, and having the guts to speak up if one of your older team-mates isn’t doing their bit. You get the feeling talking to Campbell, that was never an issue for him.

“I always try to help anyone if they need my advice,” he said. “They came in last week or the week before, so that’s them involved now. They’re in with the big boys with some questionable gear! They let them know about it.

“Moving into the first team dressing room is that next step. You play, make it to the first team and then making the step into the changing room is a bit of a relief. You’re delighted to be in there and it makes it all feel a bit more real.

“I feel that once you’re in there you’re not a young boy anymore. You need to stand up and be counted.

“If someone’s not doing their job, you need to tell them. It’s not a case of you’re young and you can’t, for example, say to someone that they’re out of position. When you’re out on the park, everyone’s the same and you need to be a leader. So, I’d like to say I’ve stepped up a bit.

“At first when you train with [the first-team] it’s a bit weird, but you then train with them every day and get used to it.

“The senior boys keep their feet on the ground. There are a lot more possible fines, so you need to watch for that and I’ve already told them about it.

“I’m quite good about it. I don’t get fined. I always watch myself.”

When Campbell was a little younger and perhaps not as wise, he made a bold proclamation ahead of a Motherwell visit to Celtic Park that Scott Brown should be worried about him, not the other way around, a statement that came back to bite him after his team were on the end of a 5-1 defeat.

Ahead of this afternoon’s return to the same venue, the brashness of youth has been replaced now with an inner belief that he can go up against players he respects and compete well.

“Going to Celtic Park is going to be hard,” he said. “It’s always a big test but the boys are full of confidence and looking to keep this run going.

“They’re the champions, so it’s going to be tough, but I think every game in this league is hard. You just have to prepare well and make sure we go into the game firing on all cylinders.

“The likes of [Callum] McGregor is a top-class player who’s been at the highest level for a number of years, but I just have to try and do what I do best. I’ll concentrate on my game and see if the team can get the win. We want to continue the run and go out with the mind-set to win.”

Campbell’s manager, Stephen Robinson, is delighted that the likes of Hastie and Turnbull are following Campbell’s lead by refusing to curtail their swashbuckling style just because they are now in among the big boys.

“Allan Campbell was kicking lumps out of Scott McDonald when he was 16,” Robinson said. “He has no fear of anyone. He respects people, but he doesn’t fear them. He plays the same way he has from the Under-16s right the way through to the first team. The thing is, all the young boys are the same. You get a freshness from youth and they play like they are in a park. They take chances and do things that maybe we didn’t have a few months ago.”

Robinson is wary about how he handles his young talents, a protective instinct that is heightened by having two sons of his own, one of whom, Harry, is a player at Oldham. But there is no danger they will be taken out of the side today as Motherwell look to go and take the game to the champions.

“I probably have a wee soft spot for them because of my own two boys,” said Robinson. “You give them a wee bit more leeway with the things they do, and you do understand their mistakes a wee bit more and their emotions.

“They are young kids. James Scott is six-foot-two and you forget he’s 18. He giggles when I speak to him! I can imagine my son doing exactly the same thing, so you’ve got to be a wee bit of a father figure to them as well.

“You need to dip them in and out and protect them from the rubbish that they read on the internet as well, because the good stuff they are hearing at the minute will also be the same people that are slagging them off in a year’s time. It’s very important that they stay grounded, they stay focused, and they remain in this bubble of improvement all the time.”