George Farm - Queen of The South

Queen of The South

With his dedication to fitness and practice, 35-year-old Farm was still a highly capable goalkeeper (only eight months before he played for Scotland) when he was signed to Queen of the South by manager Jimmy McKinnell, Jr. He went on to make 119 league appearances for the Dumfries club, replacing McKinnell to become player-manager in three of his four years with the club. He guided Queens back to the Scottish First Division with promotion as Second Division runners-up in 1961-62 with a team that included future Scotland centre forward Neil Martin, right winger Ernie Hannigan (later re-united with Martin in England's top flight at Coventry City) and goals king of Queens Jim Patterson; two years later, however, in January 1964, Farm was sacked. The local press was filled with comments backing Farm and criticising the Willie Harkness-led board. Harkness initially announced Farm had "left by mutual consent" before admitting the club's directors had met to "relieve Mr. Farm of his duties as manager". The board retained him as a player, even though Farm had dropped himself some weeks before in favour of youngster Allan Ball. Harkness and the board took charge of team affairs, but the club were relegated.