JOHN FARQUHAR'S time in top-class football was comparatively short - not much more than six complete seasons at most - but in that time he managed to play for a very good Morton side and perhaps the most powerful Queen's Park side of last century.

He made his Hampden debut at the age of 18 at the very height of the war, the season 1942-43, and for a while he was seldom seen, having been called to the forces almost immediately.

In 1945 he became regularly available again, although coming back to a club with such splendid players as Billy McPhail (Celtic) and Tommy Gallacher (Dundee), to say nothing of Johnny Aitkenhead (Motherwell), he could not be guaranteed a first-team place. Since no-one could play professional football during the war there was not the usual flow of Queen's Park players to the professional ranks.

These were the days when Queen's fielded their ''6ft forward line'', John Farquhar at outside right, Andy McGill at inside-right, Tony Harris at centre forward, Kenny Chisholm at inside left, and Colin Liddell on the left wing. Those literal fans who pointed out that Tony Harris could not, by a couple of inches, be called a six-footer were despised.

John Farquhar stayed at Hampden after half the first team turned professional in 1946 and the remainder took the shilling in 1947. With Andy Aitken and Graeme Cunningham providing any measure of forward experience, Farquhar had his finest hour in 1947.

In Christmas week Queen's played Celtic at Hampden and Farquhar was magnificent in scoring twice into the teeth of a howling gale. His loping stride ate up space, as in scoring twice he was constantly buffeted by the wind.

His display that day certainly attracted the attention of Celtic, who had learned the player intended to turn professional at the end of that season. As an amateur there would have been no transfer fee as such involved but a sum would have been negotiated between club and player. John Farquhar was looking for #2500-#3000, but Celtic felt unable to meet that amount. He went elsewhere and his place at Parkhead was taken by inside forwards of a markedly inferior quality.

He must have been very near the Olympic side which played off for third place in the London games of 1948 and he did not sign for Morton until early August which perhaps betokened the hope that Celtic would still come in for him. When he walked into the Morton dressing room at Cappielow he could have been forgiven for thinking he was still at Hampden, for he was greeted by four former Queen's Park players: Jimmy Mitchell, Johnny Wigham, Tommy Alexander, and Colin Liddell. Morton were then a power in the land, having just lost the Scottish Cup final to Rangers after a replay.

They had such fine players

as the international goalkeeper, Jimmy Cowan, the highly-

cultured Tommy Orr, who had been so effective playing alongside the recently departed Billy Steel, and at centre they had Neil Mochan, who would, ironically, be almost immediately offered the berth at Parkhead which John Farquhar so coveted.

He was a Morton player for fully five seasons and capable of playing either right-wing berth, although he was sometimes selected at centre forward. He was difficult to knock off the ball, although he did not quite maintain his early scoring rate for Queen's Park of 17 goals in 51 official Scottish league matches.

A bad knee injury severely curtailed his football career and left him with a noticeable limp in later life. His was a prominent role in that brief flicker of greatness which surrounded Queen's Park from 1944 to 1948 and he remained for his whole career a very fine example of the traditional Scottish inside forward and an eminently fair, although vigorous, opponent.

There will be happy memo-

ries of him at both Hampden

and Cappielow.