David Moyes answers instantly when asked what advice stands out from the barrage he received on becoming Manchester United manager: "'You'll do it easy.' But I'm not saying who it was. I don't take that as a given, because I know it's going to be really hard at Manchester United. I know that."
Moyes is two months into succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson but is already intent on turning United into his club. The respect for the domestic game's greatest manager will always be deep but Moyes knows it is time to look forward. To explain why he brought in Steve Round, Phil Neville, Jimmy Lumsden and Chris Woods from Everton on his backroom staff, and made Ryan Giggs player-coach, he says: "I needed it to be David Moyes's era now, so that meant me taking some of my own people.
"I couldn't do it without the help of Ryan Giggs. Phil Neville had known a little bit at both clubs. But more importantly he probably knew how I worked at Everton more than Manchester United. Phil and Ryan are young, it's really important in this job that you also keep young, open-minded thoughts because you don't want to get too old in your ways."
An illustration of Moyes's desire to succeed comes when it is put to him whether he will require six months or even a season for United to become his side. "It is my team now. I have taken over, I'm in charge," he says. "As I have said, I will use the ex-manager as much as I can because of his knowledge but it is my team now and I have to take responsibility for that. From day one, it is my team and I have to get on and show that."
Moyes is speaking in a Sydney harbour restaurant during a four-hour dinner of fine Shiraz and rare Wagyu beef. He is relaxed and assured. Yet only eight days into the club's three-week tour of Thailand, Australia, Japan and China, Moyes has already been introduced to the United whirlwind.
The unhappy Wayne Rooney flew back on the opening day owing to a hamstring problem and is still determined to leave Old Trafford. Barcelona's Thiago Alcântara plumped for Bayern Munich rather than join the champions. And Moyes is considering a third, club-record bid for Cesc Fábregas after a £30m offer was rejected.
The fanatical welcome in Asia and Australia has left Moyes in no doubt as to United's global appeal and the expectation focused on him. But none of this, nor following Ferguson, has caused doubt to creep in. "There's not that," Moyes says, "but there has to be an element of fear that comes with managing a club like Manchester United. It keeps you working, it keeps you focused and helps you try not to take your eye off the ball."
In his endearingly frank manner, Moyes is happy to admit to butterflies. "Yeah, that comes with the excitement of the job. It's more to do with the magnitude of Manchester United and following arguably the greatest manager that football has ever known," he says. "I don't want to mention Sir Alex in every conversation I have but in the same breath I would hate to think in any way that I was disrespecting someone of his level. But I will always respect him and Manchester United will always do so too.
"It has to be a new era. Whatever we say, my job now is to make my history. I'm going to be following someone who has made incredible history. I think about Matt Busby's history and then Alex Ferguson's history – they could do a film about it. I have to make sure now that my history and my time is something which the fans and people in the future talk about."
Moyes knows that United remain the biggest scalp in English football. "Yeah I've seen that already, even the feel about the place, I see a different situation and it's going to be new to me and something I'm going to have to come to terms with," the 50-year-old says. "But I feel comfortable in my position, I feel as if I can be in the job, not saying it's all going to be right because I don't think [there] is any manager who always gets it right.
"But I do feel that I'm in a position I think I can deal with it. I've got to say I feel it's the right job for me, at the right time. Hopefully I'll make it work."
In leading a changing room of A-list players headed by Robin van Persie, Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, Moyes understands he will be scrutinised. "I think every footballer who I've worked with judged the manager. They want to see if he can earn his stripes, they want to see if they can coach, if they can make decisions. So I think the players will soon look at that and look to see if they think you can do it. I'm looking at players who are winners, who have been an incredibly successful team over the years, so I've got to make sure I learn from them. I don't know it all."
On 17 August the real business starts with the trip to Swansea City in the first of a five-match start to the season that could define United's title defence. Chelsea follow in Moyes's first home game, before a visit to Liverpool – during which a feisty reception beckons for a former Everton manager of United – Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, then the derby at Manchester City.
Moyes says: "It could map out our whole season, which is why we are trying to get ourselves right for the opening games. It is going to be an interesting start, but however the start goes, you play each team twice. We just have to play some of the better ones at the early stage, so we have to make sure we are in good in form, but the same applies to them."
Of José Mourinho's return to Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini replacing Roberto Mancini at City, Moyes says: "They're new managers coming into new clubs so things can change. I think the Premier League is going to be a little bit more unpredictable than it's been in the past. I just hope the predictability about it is that Manchester United are beating everybody you expect them to beat. But Arsène Wenger is now the longest-serving manager in the league and there is the chance that this could be a different kind of year."
Moyes talks of being United's manager for 10 or 15 years, and building his own dynasty as did Busby and Ferguson. "I'd really like that, not just because of the history of Scottish managers, but I think there has been a succession of Scottish managers – Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Sir Matt, George Graham – you could go on and on. I've probably missed a few out. If I could in some way be tagged on to the end of that list, because I'd been successful at Manchester United, then I'd be delighted."
Moyes will steep himself in the club's rich past. "I will need to get the history books on, because I wouldn't be the first person to be able to turn around and tell you every cup final or every game we've been involved in or all the players," he admits. "But I wanted to get myself as knowledgeable as I can. Looking at the history of the club, it's incredible, so I'm really looking forward to getting myself up to speed. Hopefully 25 years might give me the chance to get up to speed."
He may have been joking about lasting a quarter of a century but it demonstrates his determination to succeed.
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