Paul Faulkner has praised Paul Lambert's first six months in charge of Aston Villa.
The manager left Norwich City in the summer to join the Villa Park side.
The club's chief executive told Sky Sports News: "Paul and the team are working hard to achieve the kind of progression the manager wants to oversee and that work ethic is mirrored throughout the club.
"We have a young, hungry, ambitious manager and we have a young, hungry, ambitious team. The best things take time to build but Paul has been great from day one.
"There's a long way to go and no-one is getting ahead of themselves, but encouragement is a vital ingredient in order to sustain everyone's effort along the way and what we're starting to see this season is really encouraging."
Villa are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games, and sit 14th in the table.
