Sheffield-born Darren Knowles started out as a trainee at his home city club Sheffield United, but he never made the breakthrough to the first team before signing for Stockport County. He went on to make over 150 appearances for Scarborough before signing for Hartlepool in March 1997. Throughout his five years at Pools he was a regular fixture at right-back and is one of only a handful of players to make over 100 consecutive league appearances for the club. After being released at the end of the 2001/02 season, Knowles went on to play for several more seasons at non-league level.