Stuart Duff (born 23 January 1982) is a Scottish retired 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 ...

who last played for Inverurie Loco Works in the

Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior association football, football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a ...

. He was primarily a central

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

although his versatility saw him play in most defensive and midfield positions. Duff began his career with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...

, going on to make 171 first team appearances in nine years at the club. He later played for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

and

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

, before leaving Scotland for spells with

Qormi Qormi ( mt, Ħal Qormi ; pronounced in the Qormi dialect), also known by its title Città Pinto, is a city in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta, southwest of Valletta in the centre of the island. It has a population of 16,324 ...

in Malta and Kairat in Kazakhstan. He joined

Cove Rangers Cove Rangers Football Club is a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Championship. They are based in the Cove Bay area of Aberdeen and play their football at Balmoral Stadium, having left their former home at All ...

in 2014, then signed for Inverurie Loco Works in 2017. He is a former Scotland under-21 internationalist, having made ten appearances between 2002 and 2003.

Career

Dundee United

Having been developed as a player through

's youth scheme, he turned professional with the club in July 1999. He was given his debut by then-manager

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 20 ...

in December 2001, when he was used as a right wing back in a match at Kilmarnock, and went on to make nine appearances that season, collecting the April 'Young Player of the Month' award. In 2002–03, Duff had his best run of league games, playing 34 times. When Ian McCall was appointed at the start of the 2003–04 season, Duff found himself more often as a substitute, playing in just 18 league games. During that season, Duff was part of the Scotland under-21 side that narrowly missed out on qualifying for the

2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 14th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Germany between 27 May and 8 June 2004. Italy U-21s won the competition for the fifth time. Italy's ...

, with Scotland losing to Croatia in the play-off. The following season, Duff played 25 league games, earning him a new three-year contract in March 2005. Shortly afterwards, Duff was part of the United side that lost narrowly to Celtic in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,substitute appearance earning him a runners-up medal. In 2005–06, with

Gordon Chisholm Gordon William Chisholm (born 8 April 1960 in Glasgow) is a Scottish professional football former player and manager. Chisholm played as a central defender for Sunderland, Hibernian, Dundee and Partick Thistle. After retiring as a player, Ch ...

the new manager, Duff played more first team games, with 29 league appearances. During February 2006, Duff alleged he was spat on by Hearts midfielder Rudi Skacel, a claim repeated two months later by Celtic captain

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, wher ...

. No action was taken against Skacel in either incident. Duff scored an important goal in the 1–0 win over

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

at Ibrox during the season, which helped United avoid relegation. Duff started the 2006–07 season as an attacking midfielder under

Craig Brewster Craig James Brown Brewster (born 13 December 1966) is a Scottish former professional footballer, turned coach. He made his name in a long playing career as a striker for numerous clubs in Scotland, particularly Forfar Athletic, Raith Rovers, ...

and scored once, although was used in a variety of defensive roles under

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing career ...

Aberdeen

In January 2008, Levein told Duff he was free to leave Tannadice and find himself a new club. He was released on 17 January, after playing 170 games for the club, scoring four times. Duff began training with fellow SPL side

and a short-term move to his home town club was confirmed the following day, seeing him become the third player to move from Tannadice to

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

in eighteen months, following

Lee Miller Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was an American photographer and photojournalist. She was a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris, where she became a fashion and fine art ...

and

Lee Mair Lee Mair (born 9 December 1980) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a central defender. Mair played for Dundee, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Partick Thistle, Dumbarton and Stranraer, as well as having had a spell in the English League 1 wit ...

. Within six weeks of arriving, however, Duff was one of several players manager

Jimmy Calderwood James Calderwood (born 28 February 1955) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Calderwood played for Birmingham City and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a player, Calder ...

threatened to release at the end of the season, due to the club's poor performances. In May 2008, Duff instead signed a two-year contract extension with Aberdeen.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Duff was loaned to

Inverness CT Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

for a month in December 2009. After his release by Aberdeen, Duff had a trial spell with

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an ol ...

and turned down an approach from St Mirren before signing for

. Duff agreed a deal that was to run until the end of the 2010–11 season. Throughout the 2010/11 season he was a regular starter for Caley, and featured in most of their surprising results. These included a 1–1 draw against Rangers at Ibrox and a 2–2 draw with Celtic at Parkhead. His contract expired with ICT at the end of the 2010/11 season, and he stated his desire to stay with Inverness and said he would accept their contract offer after returning from holiday. In the summer of 2011, a contract was offered, but no deal was agreed and the contract offer was eventually withdrawn.

Playing Abroad

Duff played three games for Ayr United as a trialist in September 2011. In November 2011, Duff agreed to join

, in the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associ ...

, for the remainder of the season.

Kairat

In February 2012, Duff agreed to join

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

side

FC Kairat Football Club Kairat ( kk, Qaırat Fýtbol Klýby) is a professional football club based in Almaty, which plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. Founded in 1954 as Lokomotiv Alma-Ata, they became Urozhay in ...

on a lucrative one-year deal and was given the number 21 shirt. Duff scored his first goal for Kairat in their 2–0 victory over

FC Sunkar FC Sunkar ( kk, Сұнқар Футбол Клубы) was a Kazakhstani football club based in Kaskelen. History The club was formed in 2004 as ''Karasai Sarbazdary'', before changing its name to ''Sunkar'' in 2009. In January 2015, Sunkar fold ...

on 8 April 2012. Kairat finished the season in 10th place. Duff had his contract extended for another year, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2013 season. Duff left Kairat at the end of the 2013 season, as

rules state that foreign players over the age of 30 must be playing for their national team in order to play in their league.

Highland League

On 14 October 2014, Duff signed a short-term deal with

side

. In January 2015, Duff signed a new two-and-a-half year contract with the club, despite interest from

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

side Montrose. In January 2017, he was transferred to another Highland League club, Inverurie Loco Works.

After Football

After returning from a two-year spell in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

with

, Duff began working in the Oil & Gas sector in his native

for

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest list of oilfield service companies, oil field service company. It has o ...

. Duff also began scouting youngsters in Scotland for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

youth in early 2016. In September 2021 he rejoined with Aberdeen again in the position of Youth Phase Manager.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duff, Stuart 1982 births Living people Footballers from Aberdeen Scottish footballers Dundee United F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Qormi F.C. players FC Kairat players Cove Rangers F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Highland Football League players Maltese Premier League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Scotland under-21 international footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Malta Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Association football defenders Association football midfielders Inverurie Loco Works F.C. players