MANCHESTER United Boss Sir Alex Ferguson has today backed good friend Stan Ternent to bounce straight back into football management.

Speaking exclusively to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, the Reds' manager said Stan would have no trouble in getting a new job after leading the Clarets out for the last time against Sunderland at Turf Moor on Sunday.

Sir Alex, who has described Stan as "the greatest character in football", said: "I think he will get a good club. He has got the experience and can work with very little resources and has got a reasonable amount of success out of it. He can stabilise a club and there are plenty of clubs that need that kind of person.

"In the past a lot of clubs have appointed young managers thinking they would come in and do the job but I think directors are now taking a better stock of the situation of what experience can bring.

"I have got to know Stan over the years simply because of working with managers, for example organising friendly games and dealing with transfers, and have got to know Stan that way. Stan is a man of substance and a real committed football manager and I love people that are committed like that. It is very easy to endear to people like Stan because they say all I want is my football."

Sir Alex, the second longest serving manager in the football league behind Crewe Alexandra's Dario Gradi, has also expressed his shock at first hearing the news and disagreed with chairman Barry Kilby's view that it was time for a managerial change at the club.

"I think everybody was shocked and I just can't believe it. I spoke to him the previous week and he was telling me what he was planning to do next season. Then you just turn round to yourself and say where do we go from here because Burnley would not be where they are if it was not for Stan. He has done a fantastic job without any money. He has had a good relationship with Barry Kilby so it is something I can't understand.

"Is there any evidence that changing manager repeatedly has ever won anybody anything. I cannot give one example. Brian Clough, Bob Paisley, Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson, there is the evidence that if you give that continuity to the staff or the players it gives you success.

"Maybe people's expectations are too high and people's perception of what their club should be are unrealistic. Supporters think they should be winning a trophy every year. Don't forget there are some really big clubs in that division with as big a history as Burnley - Notts Forest, West Bromich Albion, Sunderland. Their fans are exactly the same as Burnley's with their expectations.

"I think there will be fans who may say he has been here six years and not done anything but I don't think was not their desire to see Stan go."