Darnell Anthony Furlong (born 31 October 1995) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Club career

Queens Park Rangers

Having impressed at junior level, Darnell signed his first professional contract with the club in March 2014. Furlong's

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and senior debut for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

came on 21 February 2015 at the age of 19 in the 2–1 defeat against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

at The

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

. Furlong was named in the starting line up by Head Coach Chris Ramsey and played the full 90 minutes. Furlong's second senior appearance came on 4 March 2015 for Queens Park Rangers at home to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, the Hoops lost the game 2–1, with Furlong playing the full 90 minutes.

Northampton Town (loan)

On 11 September 2015, Furlong joined

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

on a month's loan to gain first team experience. The following day, Furlong made his debut in a 1–0 victory over

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

, playing the full 90 minutes. Furlong went on to make nine more league appearances for Northampton Town before returning to Queens Park Rangers in November 2015. Northampton later went on to win the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

title without Furlong.

Cambridge United (loan)

On 5 January 2016, Furlong signed for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

on a one-month loan deal. On 9 January 2016, Furlong made his Cambridge United debut in a 1–0 away defeat against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

, playing the full 90 minutes. On 8 February 2016, after impressing within the first month of his loan spell with Cambridge United, Furlong's loan spell at the

Abbey Stadium Abbey Stadium is a association football, football stadium in Cambridge, England. It has been the home ground of Cambridge United F.C. since 1932, and currently has a maximum Seating capacity, capacity of 8,127 spectators. Cambridge Regional Coll ...

was extended for a further month. On 12 March 2016, Furlong started for Cambridge against

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, the team he had been on loan to at the start of the season. The match finished 1–1 with a dramatic late equaliser by Cambridge. On 19 April 2016, Cambridge defeated

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

7–0, with Furlong contributing with an assist. The result matched Cambridge's record of their biggest ever league victory. After numerous loan extensions to Furlong's Cambridge United career, he returned to Queens Park Rangers at the end of the 2015–16 campaign having played for every minute of every league game for Cambridge since his signing.

Swindon Town (loan)

On 12 August 2016, Furlong joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

on a season-long loan. A day later, Furlong made his debut in a 3–1 defeat against

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, in which he netted Swindon's consolation goal in the 88th minute, the first competitive professional goal of his career. On 18 October 2016, Furlong opened the scoring for the Robins in the 24th minute, as Swindon went on to defeat Rochdale 3–0. He was recalled by QPR on 2 January 2017, having started in all but 3 of Swindon's league games, and appearing in all but 1, from the time of his arrival, until his departure.

Return to Queens Park Rangers

After Furlong was recalled from his loan at

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

, he returned to the starting line up on 12 January 2017 (his first league appearance for the club in almost 2 years) as QPR pulled off an upset against promotion hopefuls

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, 1–0 away from home, in which Furlong played the full 90 minutes. Under new boss

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...

, Furlong saw a prolonged duration in the side in the form of a right back/right wing back. Shortly after returning from his loan spell, Furlong's sudden involvement with the first team earned him a two-year contract extension until the summer of 2019. On the contract extension, Furlong said "it's a massive boost for me personally and a fresh chance. I've really enjoyed the last few weeks and it's given me a taste of first team football at QPR. I've signed this new deal and I can really focus on kicking on." He scored his first goal for QPR in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

tie against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 22 August 2017.

West Bromwich Albion

On 23 July 2019, Furlong signed for

for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year deal with the club. He scored his first goal for West Brom against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

on 22 September 2019.

Personal life

Furlong is the son of former

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

striker

Paul Furlong Paul Anthony Furlong (born 1 October 1968) is an English football coach and former professional player who played a striker. He was appointed joint manager of Queens Park Rangers' U23 team in 2021. Furlong played in the top division of Engli ...

, who is currently an academy coach at QPR. He is also eligible to play for

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furlong, Darnell 1995 births Living people Footballers from Luton English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Black British sportsmen