Former Norwich City boss Paul Lambert – who is due to be officially unveiled as the new Aston Villa manager at a press conference today – has admitted he will be forever indebted to the Canaries for his shot at the big time.

The Scot's resignation last week ended a successful three-year stint in which he guided City to a double promotion and last season's mid-table top flight finish.

Lambert believes his managerial rise from humble beginnings at struggling Livingston, via Norwich, to the Midlands is a mirror image of a playing career which carried him all the way to a European Cup winner's medal.

'It definitely helped me. As a player I had to start with small clubs. I wasn't lucky enough to fall into a club where everything was given to you and it was the same managerially,' said Lambert. 'You start low, take the knocks and the bumps along the road and you try not to let it beat you. I just don't want to get beat at anything.

'Sometimes your name gets you into the higher profile jobs straight away, but I wouldn't change my career for anything as a manager.

'I was fortunate to have seen the top end as a player but as a manager I don't think many get an opportunity (in the Premier League) unless you take a team up.'

Lambert faces a similar rebuilding job at Villa to the situation he inherited with Norwich back in 2009, but lofty expectations will not faze him as he prepares to take over from compatriot Alex McLeish.

'The clubs I played with you are used to that. You know how to handle the pressure and the expectation. At Celtic and Borussia Dortmund that is a normal part of the job,' he said. 'I know everything goes right it is the players and everything that goes wrong is the manager's fault. You just want to strive to be as successful as you can. Everybody does.

'That doesn't bother me. When I got out of League One (with Norwich), people said to me the Championship would be really hard to stay in.

'Without knowing, because it was a step into the unknown for me, I knew at the back of my own mind what to expect. It is the same now. It's not something that scares me. You need somebody to trust you and have faith in you in life generally, but especially as a footballer. '