By Paul Brown

Paul Lambert admits he's relishing beginning preparations for the opening day clash at West Ham, insisting: "I'm excited by the challenge and can't wait to get going."

Lambert is already counting down the days to the start of pre-season training as he looks to build a winning team.

But he stressed that his lions must play football "the right way" as he aims to merge flair and fire.

He said: "I'm absolutely over the moon I'm here. It's an absolute privilege to be manager of this club with the amount of people that support it.

"I'll do everything I can to make it really successful. It's something I'm really looking forward to. It's a massive challenge, but we'll give it a right good go.

"I'm excited by it, I really am, I can't wait to get going. I'm looking forward to the team coming back.

"It's new to me, it might take a few weeks to find our feet, but we'll be ready for it.

"It's vital we play the right way, but I don't want to play the right way and get beat every single week.

"I think you have to win games and to do that you've got to play the right way. But what we've always tried to do is get the team winning.

"My job is to try to get the team to win, to make it play well."

Lambert once again reiterated the importance of the fans, who he hopes will back the team when times are good and bad.

He added: "Most importantly we'll need every supporter that comes and watches.

"There will be times when it will be hard and all that stuff, but stay with it and hopefully we'll give you some really good times. We'll do everything we can to try to make that happen.

"I knew before I came here that the fanbase was massive. I'm certainly going to need the crowd, I think that's vital to us and if we can get the stadium rocking it will be a really good place.

"There's a great history and tradition behind the club.

"The most important people at any football club are the people that come and watch it and the players. If I can get those two going off each other then hopefully we can have a right good season."

Click here to buy season tickets for the new term as Villa embark on a vibrant new era.