Former Newcastle boss John Carver admits he has applied for the vacant managerial position at Aston Villa Former Newcastle boss John Carver admits he has applied for the vacant managerial position at Aston Villa

Former Newcastle boss John Carver has confirmed to Sky Sports News HQ that he has applied for the vacant managerial position at Aston Villa.

Carver has been out of work since leaving Newcastle last June after helping the club maintain their Premier League status on the final day of last season.

Villa, who parted company with Remi Garde on Tuesday, currently sit bottom of the Premier League, 12 points from safety with only seven matches remaining.

When asked about the Villa post, Carver said: "I have had a long lay-off, I am ready to go again. Aston Villa is a fantastic football club and I would say there will be at least 100 applications for this job.

Remi Garde left Aston Villa by mutual consent after four months in charge

"Anyone who has got any ambition to be a manager or a coach at a club like Aston Villa will apply for it and I am no different. It is a football club that needs rebuilding and that's something that interests me, but obviously the people at the top will make the decisions.

"Let's not forget there are some huge candidates out there, some big names with a lot more experience than I've got. But sometimes you have to go for things because you have to been given an opportunity and have faith in the people trying to appoint the manager.

"I am sure whoever they appoint, they'll appoint the right person because Aston Villa should not be going into the Championship. It looks like they are going into the Championship, I can't see them recovering.

"They are a huge football club and their fans are very similar to [Newcastle], they deserve success, they deserve to be in the Premier League, but it's a massive rebuilding job."

Carver won just three of his 20 matches in charge of Newcastle and also presided over a run of eight successive league defeats - a club record for the Magpies in the Premier League.

Following the departure of Garde, Villa confirmed Eric Black will take control of first-team affairs for Saturday's match against Chelsea at Villa Park.