Paul Lambert Appointed Aston Villa Manager

Aston Villa have confirmed that former Norwich City boss Paul Lambert will take over the reins at Villa Park, announcing his arrival with a delightfully terse official statement on their website. Lambert, 42, takes over from Alex McLeish, a hugely unpopular appointment last summer who led the club to a disastrous league campaign while also playing some of the most dire football imaginable before being unsurprisingly sacked following the close of the season.

It didn't take long to realise that Villa were on the right path this summer: They'd been linked to exciting, young talents like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Roberto Martinez before finally settling on Lambert, who led the Canaries to promotion in the 2010/11 season before guiding them to a highly credible 12th-place finish. He's inheriting an enormous mess in Birmingham, but with an exciting crop of young talent on the way, Villa seem well poised to turn things around in a hurry.