Paul Anthony Furlong (born 1 October 1968) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional player who played as a striker. He was appointed joint manager of

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

' U23 team in 2021. Furlong played in the top division of English football for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

and Chelsea and in the Football league for

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

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. The team compete in the ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

and

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

. He has also played

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for Enfield,

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

and St Albans City, where he was

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

. At representative level, he has six caps for the England semi-professional team.

Playing career

Coventry City

He began his career at non-League level with

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side Enfield in 1986, remaining there until July 1991 when he signed for

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

side

. He was brought to

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game on 30 ...

by the club's player-manager and former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

defender

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps in a ten-year international career that feature ...

, and when Butcher was sacked in January he remained in favour under new manager

Don Howe Donald Howe (12 October 1935 – 23 December 2015) was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his pla ...

. Furlong only managed four goals from 37 league games all season, however, and after the season ended he was transferred to

Watford

Furlong was much more successful at Watford in Division One (the new name for the original Second Division after the creation of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

), and was voted

Watford Player of the Season Watford Football Club are an English football club, from Watford, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1881 as Watford Rovers, the club has competed in the Football League since 1920 and since the 2015–16 season have competed in the Premier League. F ...

in 1993. Although he failed to inspire Watford to a promotion challenge, he established himself as one of the finest strikers in the division at this time, alongside the likes of

Steve Bull Stephen George Bull (born 28 March 1965) is an English former professional footballer who is best remembered for his 13-year spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He played there from 1986 until his retirement from playing in 1999, and holds the c ...

and

Stan Collymore Stanley Victor Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is an English football pundit, sport strategist, and former player who played as a Forward (association football), striker from 1990 to 2001, most notably for Nottingham Forest and later Liverpo ...

Chelsea

At the end of the 1993–94 season, he became Chelsea's record signing in a £2.3 million deal, and that season he helped them reach the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

semi-finals (losing to

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

by a single goal) as well as finish 11th in the Premier League. However, the arrival of

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and subsequent manager. Regarded among the greatest footballers of all time, he was also noted for his Utility player#Association football, abili ...

and

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

during the 1995 close season reduced his first team opportunities, and following the arrival of

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; 9 July 1964 – 5 January 2023) was an Italian football player and manager who played as a striker. Vialli started his club career at his hometown club Cremonese in 1980, where he made 105 league appearances and scored 23 g ...

a year later he opted to move on. During his time at Chelsea he scored 18 goals in 85 matches in all competitions.

Birmingham City

He became

's record signing in a £1.5 million deal. Although it meant dropping down a division, Furlong knew he would have more chances of first team action in the West Midlands, and was part of an ambitious side managed by

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (19 April 1954 – 24 July 2023) was an English footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million pla ...

and containing fellow big names including

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was a centre-back in a twenty-year playing career. He is currently the head coa ...

, Mike Newell and Gary Ablett. He remained at St Andrew's for six years, scoring 50 goals in 130 Division One games, and having loan spells at

(twice) and

Queens Park Rangers

He finally left Birmingham in the summer of 2002, the year they reached the Premier League after 16 years outside the top flight, and signed a contract with Queens Park Rangers in Division Two. This was a return to a previous club as Furlong had been a youth team player at QPR at the start of his career. He continued to do well at

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

, helping them win promotion in 2004, and by the time he left in 2007, he had played 162 league games and scored 54 goals.

Luton Town

On leaving QPR, the 38-year-old Furlong signed for

who had just been relegated from the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

. He scored eight goals in 32 games but was unable to prevent the financially troubled side from suffering a second successive relegation.

Southend United

He then signed for

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

side

, but made just four appearances during the first half of the season and was loaned out to

in January 2009. After two goals in January the loan spell was extended until the end of the season. His goal in Barnet's 1–0 win against

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

was his 200th senior goal, and he marked the occasion by laying down his shirt and saluting it.

Barnet

He was released by Southend at the end of the 2008–09 season, and joined Barnet on a one-year deal after an excellent pre-season. This was subsequently extended until the end of the 2009–10 season. On 2 June 2010, Furlong was released by Barnet.

Kettering Town

A few weeks later, he joined

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

club

. During the 2010–11 season with Kettering, Furlong scored 5 times in 27 appearances for the club – including a brace in a match against Eastbourne Borough on 22 January 2011 – as they finished 15th in the Conference Premier.

St Albans City

On 10 August 2011, Furlong was confirmed as player/coach at St Albans City. He scored on his debut for St Albans in a

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and e ...

game against

Cirencester Town Cirencester Town Football Club is a football club based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA, the club are currently members of the and play at the Corinium Stadium. History The club was estab ...

International career

When at Enfield he was capped six times for the England semi-professional team, scoring once. He was 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, wit ...

Coaching career

Having already been on Queens Park Rangers' staff part-time, in September 2012 Furlong was appointed assistant youth development coach within the club's academy to work with the players aged 12 to 16. He went on to manage the under-18 team, and in September 2021 became under-23s manager jointly with

Andy Impey Andrew Rodney Impey (born 30 September 1971) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is an academy coach at Queens Park Rangers. As a player, he was a full-back or winger who notably played in the Premier League for ...

Personal life

Furlong's son Darnell, who plays as a full back, made his professional debut with Queens Park Rangers in 2015.

References

Infobox statistics * Enfield in the Conference, ''excluding'' the 1990–91 Isthmian League season: * From Coventry City to Kettering Town: * St Albans City:

External links

Barnet FC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furlong, Paul 1968 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Haringey People from Wood Green English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football forwards Enfield F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players English Football League players Premier League players Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Black British sportsmen British people of Montserratian descent