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Aston Villa are searching for a director of football operations as they continue to revamp the support networks around boss Paul Lambert.

Chief executive Tom Fox has created the role as part of his on-going plan to improve the major departments that surround the manager at Villa Park.

The club are also closing in on the appointments of a chief commercial officer and a new head of media while a massive overhaul of the academy and the scouting system is already underway.

Ideally Villa are aiming to fill the position by the summer to ensure the new man is settled in for the start of next season.

Can you spot yourself in the Villa Park crowd against Liverpool

Lambert is expected to play a part in the eventual appointment and is likely to help identify some of the roles that he will undertake.

That the club are involving him in such talks suggest that both Fox and owner Randy Lerner are still fully behind him despite Villa’s chronic lack of goals and their slide down the Premier League table.

At Bodymoor Heath business is as usual ahead of the fourth round FA Cup clash with Bournemouth on Sunday but there is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes.

The decision to create the director of football operations position is part of Fox’s long-term vision to help the club prosper.

He told the Birmingham Mail last month that he predicts success in three-to-five years time and in the five months he has been at the club there has been plenty of change.

His plan to hire slick, experienced, professionals who have a history of getting results is slowly starting to take shape and in time the results should show.

Having enjoyed a productive period at Arsenal, the savvy American has started to implement some of the success stories that he witnessed in north London.

The chief commercial officer role was the post he held at the Emirates Stadium and Villa should have that position filled in a matter of months.

Yoann Copreaux, the new head of business strategy, was brought in late last year and is said to have made an impressive start to his time in the Midlands.

The changes in the academy also bode well for the future.

Unlike at other clubs the director of football role will not be heavily centred around identifying and purchasing players.

Villa feel that with new director of recruitment Paddy Reilly already doing a decent job at Bodymoor Heath there is little need to add another commanding head to that section.

Instead, Fox is thought to want someone who can look critically at areas such as sports medicine, data analysis and athletic performance to ensure the claret and blues are reaching their maximum potential.

While the exact duties are not yet clear, it’s thought that a new arrival would not come in and under-cut any football responsibilities that the manager is in charge of.

That would mean no interfering with the squad, team selection and game-based issues.

Villa may be struggling on the pitch but they are certainly hiring good people to take care of the backroom matters.

At present the need for an assistant manager is not thought to be a serious concern.

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