Aston Villa chief executive Tom Fox has revealed that the club want to be regularly challenging for European qualification within the next three years.

The Villans have not played continental football since the 2010-11 season and have finished in the bottom half of the table in subsequent campaigns.

There have been accusations that American owner Randy Lerner has lost interest following minimal squad investment in recent times, but Fox insists that Villa are highly ambitious going forward.

"We should be finishing seventh or eighth consistently," Fox told BBC Sport. "We should be competing consistently up there for a place in Europe, and putting us within touching distance of the larger clubs. And I don't think that takes four years.

"What I've communicated to our owner Randy Lerner is that this club can be seventh or eighth in terms of revenue.

"I think it will take three years to put ourselves in a better position than we are now. We don't have to wait that long to determine whether we've been successful against where we want to be."

Villa are 12th in the table ahead of their trip to local rivals West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.