The new football season is just around the corner and Gloucester City boss Marc Richards couldn’t be happier.

The 36-year-old is preparing for his first full season as manager of the National League South club having taken charge in the final days of last year.

And even though the off-season is getting shorter and shorter – the new campaign kicks off on Saturday 4th August – Richards says he is excited by the prospect of what lies ahead over the next 9 or 10 months or so.

Richards, who had just returned from a short family break in Devon when he spoke to The Local Answer, has every reason to be excited of course after steering the club into mid-table security last time out.

They finished 14th in the 22-strong division and Richards said: “We had a really good February and March which we needed when you consider what our run-in was.

“The players worked really hard and it was really pleasing because we dropped into the bottom three in December when we didn’t play a couple of games.”

Richards is hoping that they can carry that encouraging second half of the season form into the new campaign but the one-time Gloucester player – he was a central midfielder or central defender – knows it will be tougher than ever in 2018/19.

“There are some real big-hitters in the division,” he said. “Chippenham Town and Bath City are close by and then further afield there’s Woking, Torquay, Billericay, Dulwich and Slough.

“I think we’ll be looking to consolidate our place in the division again this season.”

And what makes that task all the tougher of course is that Gloucester will again be playing their home games at the Jubilee Stadium, which is home to Evesham United.

Richards remains optimistic that the club will be back at their Meadow Park ground in Gloucester for the start of the 2019/20 season even though they haven’t played there since the devastating floods of 2007.

“I’m a glass half full man,” he said. “To be honest, I’m not sure I could do this job if I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

Richards’ predecessor as Gloucester boss, Tim Harris, advised him to concentrate only on football matters when he took on the job and not to involve himself in off-the-field concerns but Richards admits it is sometimes difficult to separate the two.

The club train at Hartpury College – Richards is assistant director of elite sport there – and the City boss added: “In terms of training facilities and support, we’re as good as any in the division.

“But getting back into the city would help recruitment, improve us financially and young players would be more likely to want to play for Gloucester City.

“We’ve got really good people like Rod Jenner, Chris Gage, Jody Gooding, Rob Ellis and James Flanagan on board who are doing an awful lot to make it happen. There is huge enthusiasm to get Gloucester back home.”

And when that does happen, it’s not hard to imagine Gloucester City moving to the next level very quickly.

As Richards says: “If you wanted to start a football club from scratch, Gloucester wouldn’t be a bad place to start especially when you consider our location so close to the Quays.”