For me, there were only two drawbacks when it came to Liam Mulvihill.

One of these is a compliment really, and it presents the fact that he stayed in the background for far too long every year.

There were times when the GAA would, in fact, have benefited from having Liam presenting himself publicly as Mr Big.

The other quandary I had with Liam Mulvihill in his role as Director General was his . . . and the GAA's refusal . . . to ever reveal exactly what his personal remuneration package was? Readers of this column know full well, that I believe that every single person in the GAA (and especially its top footballers and hurlers, and those people who do all the mean and downright nasty jobs in GAA grounds around the country, for free, like taking the ?20 at the gate on a Sunday afternoon and missing the start of the game! ) deserves to know what the top man in the biggest amateur organisation in the country is earning.

I've written about this many times.

Personally, I never had a problem with Liam Mulvihill receiving a package of a quarter of a million euro annually, but I would have liked everyone else in the association to make their minds up on it as well. Indeed, when it came to judging him and his contribution to the association it would have been helpful to know exactly how much he had taken home and how much had gone into his pension fund, etc, etc.

The funny . . . no, make that very strange . . . thing is, even though I asked for clarity on this question several times over the last couple of years especially, nobody, no other journalist or commentator, ever turned up at the GAA's annual presentation of its facts and figures and asked the Director General for an breakdown of Croke Park's salaries and a similar breakdown of pension contributions.

It appears I'm the only one who'd like to know what Liam, and all the other members of Croker's 'suited team' are earning. It's an amateur organisation, and it's a sincere question, but, nope, nobody else who ever faced Liam Mulvihill, when he presented the GAA's totted sums for the end of the financial year, ever cared too much to indulge in any follow-up questioning.

First thing Liam Mulvihill's successor should do is tell us all, down to the last cent, exactly what he is being paid to fit into Liam Mulvihill's shoes.

It's always been hard over the last 28 years to ever offer any personal challenge to the man, or lay down any personal criticism.

Last Thursday morning, as he faced the press for the last time perhaps, when he officially announced his impending resignation, he shot through the changes he has seen throughout the association and throughout the country during his time in office, and one of these was the furious increase in GAA writers and commentators across all sections of the media.

There's no doubt, but the old association has been getting the microscope treatment over the last decade in particular, from wise old sages and young self-indulgent pups, but Liam, it seems, escaped this period without feeling a stick across the backs of his legs very often . . . if at all.

He did keep his head down, and as I've already said he did so for far too long.

He has told us this week that a GAA Director General, if he is going to live and work in a healthy fashion with a GAA president (who gets into a phone box and comes out with a new cape and a new face every three years) must restrain himself somewhat, and should never be seen to be tripping over the President, either physically, or God forbid, on GAA policy.

There was no fear that Liam Mulvihill would ever do such a thing. Mr Big never went toe-to-toe with Superman, or 10 changing Supermen, over the last 28 years. Instead, he was very difficult for journalists to track down for long periods of the year. But I still contend the man should have been visible more often. He was the heart and soul of the association. Instead, he allowed Danny Lynch in his PR department to field too many hard questions, far too often. He also allowed some, more inexperienced and ineffectual, Presidents far too much time and space. And, all along, he kept his own thoughts and ideas for his annual report to congress.

Liam Mulvihill's annual report was nearly always a treat. Here, he would open up, and indulge himself, and offer all of the association's hundreds of thousands of members a glimpse of what the GAA could become. And, some of these things have come to pass over the last 28 years. They sure have, and we're mighty thankful for that.

Liam Mulvihill, on Thursday, told us that in his time Central Council income has grown annually from �200,000 to ?40 million.

He enjoyed running through the major changes which have come about in the format of the championships and the packaging of the championships on TV for everyone.

No doubt about it, he was a good man who did a great job. He grew into the job with each passing decade, because the GAA top table, originally, took a massive risk in asking a young man in his 30s, a schools inspector with no business experience, to lead the association towards the end of the 20th century.

Some might argue that with the country enjoying the best of times . . . and a Celtic Tiger about to be unleashed . . .

Mulvihill just lived up to the times and expectations. And this is fair comment too.

But, ultimately, nobody could argue other than Liam Mulvihill was the right man, in the right place, for 28 years. Well done, and good luck Liam!