Ole: Now the hard work starts

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said he is honoured and privileged to be confirmed as the permanent Manchester United manager.

It was announced on Thursday morning that the boss has signed a three-year deal with the club and, speaking in his first press conference since the news was broken, Ole revealed he is looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“I don't think proud is the right word,“ he said at a press conference at Old Trafford. ”I'm happy, I'm honoured, because it's a fresh start.

“It’s the start of something new again. Now, the hard work starts. Now, it's the hard work, the enjoyable work, so it's not the moment to be proud in that respect.

“You know when people get a new job and they say it's their dream job and they've always dreamed about or played for that club or managed a club. That's more to me than to anyone.

“This has been my ultimate dream all the time. Maybe a naive dream, but I've always had that dream in my mind to have this responsibility for this huge, fantastic family of a football club and I'm so honoured and privileged to be given this fantastic responsibility to lead us forward.”

Ole was previously appointed on an interim basis in December and has performed superbly in the last few months, winning 14 of his 19 games in charge.

For that reason, the boss has said he will not start changing things now he has been announced as the permanent manager.

“I'm just going to be myself as I've always been and I know the expectations of the club, the traditions of the club, the history that we've got.

“Of course, I want to be successful, of course I want us to lift trophies, but I can't wait to get on to the job, on to the challenge of improving this great bunch of players, because it's a squad full of potential.

“I've worked with them for three months or we have worked for three months as a group. The improvement is there to be seen and we know there's so much more to come from them.

“We can see so much more improvement. We see them every single day in training. Their attitude has been fantastic, but we know we've got a way to go. I'm sure we'll be successful.“

For Ole, the next aim is securing the Reds’ spot in the top four at the end of the season, with the Champions League quarter-final ties against Barcelona also on the horizon.

“Of course, when I got the job, we were 11 points behind fourth. Now we've given ourselves a great chance to be in the top four and even top three, so that's going to be the short-term target in the league.

“The Premier League is vital for us and, of course, we've been discussing how to move the club forward.

“We've got a chance, of course we have. It's going to be a tough one. There's going to be a mountain to climb, but we've climbed a few mountains before.”