 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 promptly dropped himself the month before after Queens signed young goalkeeper Allan Ball to take over the number 1 jersey debuting on 14 December 1963 against Falkirk.Harkness and the board took charge of team affairs, but the club were relegated.