New manager Mark Hughes has the millions of owner Thaksin Shinawatra available to spend this summer and Richards is hoping the players he brings in can propel the club into the top four.

"With a new manager in place, I am hoping we can get some new players in all positions to strengthen the squad and give it a really good go," he said.

"Let's hope we can get to the end of the campaign and say 'We had a good season'.

stump up

"We don't want to be making excuses and saying 'We should have done this or that'."

Richards has recovered from a knee injury and will be available for the new season, which starts in just over a fortnight as City begin their UEFA Cup campaign.

The Blues learn their first qualifying round opponents on Tuesday, with the first leg due to be played on 17th July.

But Sun Jihai, Paul Dickov and Emile Mpenza will not be involved - because they have all been released by Hughes - while Georgios Samaras and Andreas Isaksson will both leave if Celtic and PSV Eindhoven can stump up the money that the City manager believes the pair are worth.