Rio backs Moyes appointment

Published Jul. 20, 2013 7:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

Rio Ferdinand has backed the appointment of David Moyes as Manchester United manager but warned him he will have to hit the ground running.

Moyes begins the daunting task of taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson when he leads his side in his first competitive game as United boss at Swansea on 17 August.

The Premier League champions are on a pre-season tour of Australia and Ferdinand told the Sydney Daily Telegraph he had every faith in the former Everton boss.

"We've got a manager who's very enthusiastic," he said. "He's young and has got the desire and appetite to be successful.

"After the manager we had, that was very much needed and he's someone I would have chosen if I was in a position to.

"He's not someone who is looking to come in for three or four years - he'd love to replicate what the manager has done.

"There were people who'd have come into the job, who maybe wouldn't have wanted to be here for that amount of time.

"I'm sure the new manager sees this as a job for the long term."

Moyes has signed a six-year contract at Old Trafford but Ferdinand insists he will be expected to challenge for trophies in his first year.

"You can't get away from the fact that the fans, and us as players, expect to win," added Ferdinand.

"We've been used to it, so to say that the fans won't mind, that we should give the manager a bit of time to bed in, is lying. We want to win. And I am sure he (Moyes) is the same.

"He doesn't want to come in and say 'give me a three-year bedding in time, I can just dilly-dally and be second or third'."