Starting his career at his local club, Mansfield, where he played for 5 seasons and playing 175 times, Stuart moved north to Middlesbrough for the princely sum of £50,000.

He would prove to be a huge hit at 'Boro, playing almost 400 games in his 8 seasons on the Tees, winning the Second Division once in the process.

In 1979 he was signed at Newcastle United for £170,000 where he played for two season as an almost ever present before moving back to Mansfield for a brief spell and then to Hartlepool (where he played only once).