Jaracz was authoritarian and unfriendly. Barr was a yes man and very friendly. From what I gather from comments of people who knew them. So Splane is appealing to two very different kinds of nostalgia here. The nostalgia for firm leadership (from Jaracz) on the one hand, and the nostalgia for old fashioned humble anointed brothers (like Barr) on the other. None of which is in evidence in the current GB.
Plus I suspect it is no coincidence that there chages came after Jaracz died. It's easy to imagine him blocking cutting the book study or the magazines. The rumours that he held back change are probably well founded, the denials only tending to confirm the suspicion.