MARC Richards feels he did not get the chance to show the best of his abilities in his final few months at Swindon Town, although hopes his goal-laden exploits early on in his stint will mean he is fondly remembered by supporters.

Last week, Richards was one of 10 players confirmed to be leaving Swindon this summer after manager Richie Wellens opted not to offer them a new contract, while another, Matt Taylor, is retiring.

Over the final three months of the campaign, striker Richards made only 10 appearances, all coming off the bench and only scoring once.

That is a stark contrast to the form Richards showed during the same period 12 months prior.

Having been signed on a free by then boss David Flitcroft from Northampton Town in the January transfer window, Richards was the club’s standout player in the second half of the 2017-18 season, scoring 11 goals in 18 starts.

Richards, who will turn 37 in July, has fallen down the pecking order since then and says having limited time to impress on the pitch while contract decisions were being made meant it was always unlikely that he would be offered the chance to stay.

“I hope I am fondly remembered,” said Richards.

“I came in after a frustrating spell with Northampton – I felt like I still had something to give there but the manager moved me on.

“To be given an opportunity at a club like Swindon, I was very excited to come here and to play my part in a promotion push.

“I felt like I gave everything and to score 11 goals in 18 appearances just showed I was still hungry to play and hungry to do well.

“Those first six months couldn’t have gone any better on a personal note, so it was frustrating not to be able to carry that on.

“But that’s football, a change in manager is a normal thing. It is how you deal with it and I don’t think it hindered my game in any way.

“I feel like if I had been given more of an opportunity under Richie, then I could have produced a lot more than I actually did.

“In the short amount of game time I got under Richie, it probably wasn’t enough to do enough to warrant another contract.”

Richards remained a first-choice starter upon Phil Brown’s appointment at Town in March 2018 following Flitcroft’s departure, although injury hindered him early on at the start of the campaign just closed.

Wellens replaced Brown at the helm last November, with Richards waiting until January to earn his first start under the new manager.

That began a run of four starts in a row, yielding two goals in the process, but following a shock loss at home to Crawley Town on January 26, Richards was solely restricted to cameos off the bench over the remainder of the season.

“At the start of the season under Phil, I was in the team but I was chasing fitness having missed a bit of pre-season and I wasn’t scoring as many goals as I would have liked,” said Richards.

“When Richie came in, I started four games and scored two goals and felt like I was getting back to where I should have been.

“After the Crawley game where we got beat at home, I came out of the team and from then on, felt like a spare part, really.

“I wasn’t getting much game time, which was frustrating because in the four games I played, I thought I played really well.

“That was the frustrating thing, really, not to get more of an opportunity.”