Struggling Midlands side Aston Villa have appointed Paul Lambert as their new manager, making him the second manager from the smaller Premier League teams to move on to bigger pastures.

Will he bring success back to Villa Park?

Lambert’s record with Norwich City was outstanding, achieving back-to-back promotions out of League One and the Championship, then surprising everyone by finishing 12th in their first Premiership season.

Aston Villa though, will be a completely different kettle of fish. When Norwich got promoted they were minnows, the newly promoted sides always are, and they were able to shock all of the bigger fish of the pond.

Now though Lambert will be expected to root Villa in the top half of the table, with a long-term goal to win football trophies and football medals – something which is the least the fans will be expecting after such a disastrous season under McLeish. The McLeish reign will be a factor which works to Lambert’s favour though. The Scot made such a hash of it (Villa only managed to finish two points into the safety zone) that his future was always uncertain.

Lambert will also benefit from not having jumped ship from the club’s arch rivals. McLeish grabbed onto Villa’s ramparts from Birmingham City when they got relegated and pretty much just clung on for dear life.

Villa need a saviour, someone whom they can rally behind. They certainly need to pull their football socks up and dig in this season if they’re to regain some of their reputation.

Lambert is the last manager from the recently promoted teams to go to a much larger club, following Brendan Rodgers who has moved from Swansea to Liverpool. The question now remains to be asked of who will be able to fill the shoes of the two hottest managers in the league?

Perhaps McLeish and Dalglish will be left to sell cheap football kits to pay for their season tickets.

Image Rights: Mollyig