Town defender Darnell Furlong has reflected on growing up in a footballing family and following in the footsteps of his father Paul.

Furlong senior enjoyed a successful career in the game, representing the likes of Birmingham City, Chelsea and Watford throughout the top two divisions of English football.

It was at Queens Park Rangers where he made his name, though, going on to score 58 goals for the Hoops during the early 2000s before his son Darnell joined the West Londoners’ academy.

“A lot of people ask if it was strange, to me it was all I ever knew,” the current Blues man said. “It was completely normal for me, it was a massive privilege to have a player or a coach in the front room or at the dinner table whenever I wanted.

“I was very thankful for that. It was just one of those things that I grew up with, it was never a change for me so it was very normal but definitely a massive privilege.

“As and when he can, he’ll come to games or watch them on TV depending on his schedule. He does love to come as and when he can, but obviously he’s very focused on his own football career as a coach. He’ll come when he can.”

His dad’s coaching career had been spent entirely at QPR, taking charge of various youth levels up to U23s until his departure in November after 14 years at Loftus Road.

Discussing his childhood further, Furlong said: “I do remember going over to the park with him a few times back where I’m from. My mum would take my younger siblings into the woods and I would be on the football pitch with cones with my dad. My upbringing was always very light and there was no pressure, it was all for fun.

“I was always under the impression it was whatever I wanted to do and I was guided in the right way, which I’m very thankful for. There was definitely no pressure in the sense of I had to do this, I had to make this cut, or be good enough for this team.

“I could have given it all up if I wanted to and that would have been fine as well. That definitely helped me to have more of a normal upbringing with a dad as a footballer.”

One notable difference between the pair is that full-back Darnell did not follow Paul in becoming a centre-forward.

The 30-year-old suggested that has put less pressure on him to match his dad’s success in the game, while admitting that he did start off up front during his early years in academy football.

He said: “I was when I was very young. When you’re a fast player when you’re younger, you’re quite often put at the top. Through the academy at QPR, I moved about a little bit and found myself at right-back.

“I can definitely see that happening, comparing goals, scoring ratios, xG [expected goals] and things like that. Things have worked out alright.”

Photo: TWTD