The City boss told the CET: "I am not sure we have got a squad that is capable of gaining promotion just yet. "The chairman and everyone knows that I would like to improve the squad and if we can do that then we will have a go. "But we will certainly be competitive and we will aim to finish higher than we did last season, but it is easier said than done.
"When a club lets ten players go out of contract like it did you always fear the worst that your summer will be taken up by chasing players. But I am in a positive frame of mind and if we can add the players that we want then we will be competitive. I am not saying we will be good enough but we will be competitive.
"The chairman says he will try his best if I put a proposal to him and if the money is there it will be coming towards me to strengthen the team, but we are in the market for free transfers.
"With the transfer window coming in we need to build a squad and if we can get 22 players then that would be great, but we have got some exciting youngsters coming through as well but in an ideal world it should be 22.
"I am not a big fan of the transfer window because it puts pressure on you to spend money that they haven't necessarily got because you have to cover all bases. The one thing you will find is that a lot of clubs will have to go with the kids which will promote some of the youngsters through to the first team.
"Now whether that is good or not I don't know because some might get an opportunity before they are ready."