Niall Gilligan has praised Davy Fitzgerald for the manner of his departure from the Clare role and the fact that he didn't allow it turn into a long and drawn-out process.
However, Gilligan added that both the management team and the players must share the blame for their recent fortunes.
Fitzgerald, who stepped down yesterday after five seasons in charge, famously led the Banner County to an unlikely Liam MacCarthy success in 2013, their first since 1997.
Only last May Clare claimed the National League title but they have struggled to make an impact in either the provincial or All-Ireland series in the last three seasons.
Recent stand-offs between panels and management teams have scarred some counties – notably Cork and Galway – and Gilligan, an All-Ireland winner in 1997, hailed his former team-mate's handling of the situation.
“I’m delighted he has done what he did,” Gilligan told RTÉ Sport.
“Because if you look at the experience in other counties, like Galway last year, at the end of the day if a manager loses the dressing room, he’s going nowhere.
“This way gives the county board a chance to find a successor. It takes a lot of the pressure for 2017 off the players.”
In an era dominated by Kilkenny, Clare’s trophy tally might receive more recognition in the future but Gilligan reckons that some of the blame for their failure to follow up on the 2013 title lies with Fitzgerald.
“In 2013 we were lucky we didn’t meet Tipperary and Kilkenny along the way,” he said.
“Another factor – and Davy and his management team have to take credit here – was the sweeper system they sprung on Galway, and Cork in the final.
“In 2013 we were lucky we didn’t meet Tipperary and Kilkenny"
"Teams hadn’t enough time to read how it worked and how to counteract it and when teams got to grips with that it just didn’t work.
“A criticism then of Davy and the management team is that they never changed.
"They kept going with that style and a lot of the flamboyant hurling and hurlers we saw in 2013 never developed on because of the tight confined spaces out the field.
“There’s a huge amount of factors where criticism has to be both on the players’ side and the management side.
“Clare don’t win All-Irelands every year, it was a huge achievement.
“Why Clare fans have become a bit disillusioned and disappointed I think [was because] when they won in 2013 they were very young, and they won the Under-21 All-Ireland.
“People were expecting them to kick on, to a Munster Championship or at least be in the All-Ireland semi-final stage every year and when that didn’t transpire supporters and players became a bit disillusioned and hungry for more success.”
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