Manchester United manager David Moyes has admitted that he has no qualms about asking his predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson for advice should he need it.

Moyes said that he has already spoken to Ferguson on a couple of occasions and that the 71-year-old has given him the confidence he needs, despite lacking experience in some areas.

"I hope Sir Alex Ferguson is sitting in the directors' box," Moyes said at his first press conference since taking over at United. "He's been so good. I've already called him for advice a couple of times on a couple of matters.

"I asked coach Rene Meulensteen to stay but he felt it was fair on me to go it alone. Ferguson is not there to pressure me. The Glazers have been great since I got here and so has the new chief executive Edward Woodward.

"I'm inexperienced in a lot of those things and they could have brought someone in who was more experienced, but the biggest confidence I got was Sir Alex saying to me 'You're the next Manchester United manager'."

Moyes's first statement was to say that Wayne Rooney would not be sold.