I WOULD question the sanity of the 5800 or so people who turned up to Bluetongue Stadium on a cold, wet night for the dead rubber match against Tianjin the other day - if I wasn’t one of them.

I know it's been said but I'll say it again - the Mariners recruitment was not particularly eye catching. While the Jets made notable squad changes after their poor A-League season (Vignaroli and Milicevic, for example), the Mariners not only let key players go, but failed to sign replacements. The lack of depth and quality in the squad was shown up by sides who, on paper, were not that much better than them.

One quote that pretty much summarised the campaign for me came from the man himself, Lawrie McKinna: "We've done our best with the squad we've had."

If the squad was really as bad as this implies, then why was it not strengthened for the ACL? We've seen the kind of quality that Asian club teams have and, while a regular A-League side would find it tough to compete with them, the ACL brings about an opportunity to bring in exciting overseas players who might otherwise not consider a move to Australia.

A lot of the talk of the Mariners poor performances has centred around the loss of Mile Jedinak. However, with his Socceroo status and desire to make a move overseas, the club was probably powerless to keep him (under the salary cap at any rate, I have no doubt that he would've been a worthwhile marquee signing but I doubt he wanted to stay anyway).

What I don't believe is the release of Sasho Petrovski. It's been argued that he wasn't fit to sign a 2-year contract but, with the Jets offering him one, it's clear that someone thought he was worth it. One of the Mariners problems in the ACL was finishing and Petrovski, a proven finisher, could've made a world of difference.

And, at 60 minutes into the game against Tianjin, was I the only one silently pleading for Brady Smith to be put on?

Which basically sums up my next point. Youth players. I have harped on about it time and time again and I'm not stopping any time soon (because if I don't talk about it, no-one will...). Before the match it was said that all three of the Mariners youth players would probably be on the bench and, not only was one of them not on the bench, none of them was used at all.

I still can't quite understand why any of the youth league guys, or the players lower down the pecking order like D'Apuzzo or Rizzo, weren't given a chance in the last few games. There was nothing to play for, not even pride. Each match could've been taken as a learning exercise. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, something new could've been tried. Who knows, maybe one of them could've been the difference between success and failure?

I have a good friend who's a Mariners supporter and he told me the other day that, despite my attempts to persuade him otherwise, he's not going to renew his membership next season. Admittedly, he's not as fanatical as I am, however, a lot of Mariners fans are, like him, casual football supporters.

After the game McKinna said: "I think some supporters forget what the team's achieved, maybe short memories."

But how are fans expected to remember previous achievements when their team hasn't won a competitive match since last December? The club simply cannot expect to live off the ‘look at what we've done' line forever.

Quite simply, changes need to be made. With Nicky Travis being announced recently, New Caledonian international Pierre Wajoka & Robbie Kruse reportedly in talks with the club and Mile Sterjovski being seriously looked at, it's clear that the club is not skirting around the issue of recruitment now.

Everything seems to be heading in a positive direction and I can only hope that, by the time pre season rolls around, I'll be seeing a player or two of Sterjovski's reputation and quality lining up in the yellow and navy.