By Paul Brown

Paul Faulkner says "ambitious" Villa are eager to become a really powerful force once again.

But Villa's chief executive is more than aware that success doesn't come "with just a click of the fingers."

Faulkner is eager to see steady improvement next season to build the foundations to "get the club moving again."

He said: "We're an ambitious club.

"It's Aston Villa, it's a massive club and I think people sometimes forget that.

"We've had two tough seasons, no doubt, but it wasn't that long ago that we had three sixth place finishes in a row, and Europe and we were in cup finals, cup semi finals and were challenging.

"People's memories have to be longer than two years.

"If you look at the infrastructure of the club it is one of the leading clubs in the country with the training ground, the facilities, the staff, so we're absolutely right to be ambitious and we've got lots of ambition at this club.

"In terms of next term, we certainly want to be better than last season, there wouldn't be much margin for error if we weren't.

"We're ambitious, but we're mindful that it takes time.

"It's not something where you can just click your fingers and success or improvement happens overnight.

"But we've talked with Paul Lambert and we know that we want to get the club moving again.

"The Premier League is a very, very tough league, but the aim of Aston Villa is to be up there fighting in the right half of the table. Let's go and build from there."

Faulkner is also confident that the bond between manager and fans can really push Villa on to fantastic things.

He added: "I think you're aware of the fans feelings but I don't know if it necessarily influenced the decision.

"You've got to try to take lots of different factors into consideration and make the right decision for Aston Villa.

"I think the fact that what we saw in Paul married up with what the fans saw is fantastic.

"We want unity at this club. We want everybody pulling in the same direction.

"If the fans are behind the team, behind the manager and behind the club then that can create a really powerful force.

"Villa is a massive club and we can use that size and really kick on and try and do something now."

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