Richard, who has forced his way onto the first team bench of late, is hoping to continue his progress next campaign and admits: "Next season is a big one for me and a lot of the young lads. The gaffer is getting the young lads involved which is good.
"We have got a lot of good young players at the club and hopefully we can get first team football next season.
"We'll see how things go on the last day and take it from there."
Richard came on at Newcastle on Saturday and says: "It was disappointing. We didn't take our chances early on and that's where we conceded it.
"We played really well in the first part of the first half and if you don't take those chances early on it can be vital, which is how it proved.
"It is always nice to come on regardless of the circumstances because you gain experience. I want to get as much as I can and take it from there.
"You enjoy it more, though, when things are going well as they were when I came on against Sunderland.
"We can take a few positives from Saturday but we have to work on what went wrong for next season and hope we can end this one with a win."