Sir Jim Ratcliffe has insisted that he has no concerns working alongside the Glazer family at Manchester United.

Ratcliffe's arrival as a minority shareholder of the 20-time English champions was confirmed on Tuesday evening, but the much-criticised Glazers have retained a majority stake at Old Trafford.

INEOS will take over football operations as part of the new structure, and Ratcliffe is confident that he can work with the Americans to help restore Man United to the top of football.

"I only know Joel and Avram and they are, despite what you might read in the press, very nice people, very courteous and they are avid supporters of Manchester United. I understand the frustrations and the anger [of supporters] but I am looking forward not backward," he told BBC Sport.

"Try to be patient and we'll try to build Manchester United back to where it should be, which is as one of the very elite clubs in the world. The key to it working is the relationship we will have with Joel and Avram, which in my view is a very good and trusting relationship.

"I think in a way it might have been the easier solution for the Glazer family to sell outright to the Qataris. To be fair to the Glazers, they thought the best solution was to sell to me because they thought United would benefit more from that.

"Ultimately the level we want to get Manchester United to is not the level we are at. That takes time. It's not just about players, it is the whole machine. There are thousands of people in that machine and we need to get that machine working really well.

"We need to be as good as anyone else in the game at recruitment and we haven't been. FFP [Financial Fair Play] is a new element in football and a really important part of managing a football club well. We will assess how much money we have available and use it well.

"We have to find the best people in the world, ensure they have the right character and personality, and create the right environment for elite sportspeople to be successful. All we're doing is trying to drive performance on the pitch."

Ratcliffe also lavished praise on Dan Ashworth, who is seemingly Man United's number one choice to become the club's new sporting director.

Ashworth has been placed on gardening leave by Newcastle United after informing the Magpies that he wants to make the move to Old Trafford.

"I think Dan Ashworth is a 10/10 sporting director - one of the best around. He would be very good for Manchester United. It is understandable that somebody like Dan would see the Manchester United job as a very interesting challenge at this stage of his career," said Ratcliffe.

"Ultimately, you can't really criticise Dan for looking at maybe the most coveted job in football as a sporting director - particularly with the challenge at Manchester United. What doesn't make sense is for Dan Ashworth to be sat doing nothing for 18 months."

Ratcliffe has also addressed Mason Greenwood's future at Man United, with the forward set to return to the club this summer following the expiration of his loan spell at Getafe. body check tags ::