Aston Villa striker Darren Bent is surprised Alex McLeish didn't get longer in the job.

Bent felt the Scot would get longer to make his mark at Villa Park but owner Randy Lerner had other ideas.

"Whenever a manager leaves you are always a bit surprised and I thought he would get another year if I'm honest," he said.

"Considering the players we lost it was always going to be a tough season but nobody expected it to be quite this tough.

"We probably lost half our team from last season, Brad Friedel, Kyle Walker, Luke Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young, so that was always going to have an effect."