Manchester United chief David Gill insists manager Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with the support he receives from the Glazer family.

Gill said there were bound to be dissenters among United's large fanbase but that manager Ferguson was very comfortable with the ownership situation.

He said: "We have 330m followers around the world, that's a key strength and within that it's highly likely you will have some dissenters and some people who are not happy with what's going on and would like to change it."

He also insisted the £80m transfer fee from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo was still available for Ferguson to spend on top players.

"Without doubt," he said. "We are looking at players all the time, the money from Ronaldo is sitting there in the bank account, we have been clear on that.

"But Alex has been very clear he is not going out to chase and overpay for a player just because everyone else thinks we should. He's a Scot, he wants value for money.

"We have spent a lot of money on Chris Smalling [from Fulham] and that's the sort of player we want to bring in - a young player who we feel will develop asa player and hopefully give us service for many many years to come."