Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov wants Kevin MacDonald appointed as the replacement for Martin O'Neill.
MacDonald took over as caretaker manager after O'Neill's shock resignation and he made the perfect start with a 3-0 destruction of West Ham United.
The Scot, who briefly held the caretaker role at Leicester City in 1994 before following Brian Little to Villa, has said he is not a big enough name for the job.
But owner Randy Lerner suggested MacDonald is in the running, having given him the green light to stay in charge for Thursday's Europa League tie with Rapid Vienna.
And Petrov, who scored Villa's second goal in a commanding opening-day performance against the Hammers, revealed the players are right behind him.
big names
"The way he prepared us for the game showed us that he wants to hold onto that job - and I hope we can help him take that job," said Petrov.
"We are behind him. He has been at the club a long time, done a great job with the youth and he has the opportunity to do it now.
"I said to him before the game, 'you try and hold onto that job'.
"He knows it's hard. Expectations are high and people want success and they talk about big names - but he has the opportunity and he is really determined to stay there.
"We played really well, we showed what we can do and if it keeps going that way there is no reason why he cannot make his own name."
Lerner revealed he will wait to be guided on the managerial decision by MacDonald's own view of the situation.
"There are those managers who like the show and the attention - and then there are those such as Kevin," he said.
"I'm not going to say it is in Kevin's hands now but much will depend on how Kevin feels, whether he thinks this might be right for him, if he is comfortable with the idea of being Villa's manager.
"He is such a cool guy, he is popular with the players who really played for him and with the fans and the press. We will see how he feels when he wakes up from this and then we will look at the situation from there."
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