Gaining his chance in the professional game at Preston North End in 1985, he impressed enough to receive a contract with top-flight Everton later in the year.

His sole outing for the "Toffees" came under the stewardship of Colin Harvey in a Full Members Cup tie against Millwall on 20 December 1988, in which he kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory.

He made 15 further appearances for Harry McNally's "Seals" before joining Third Division rivals York City for a brief loan spell in December 1987.

"Citizens" manager Mel Machin allowed goalkeeper Eric Nixon to leave Maine Road on loan after securing Stowell's services for the rest of the campaign.

[4] He joined Port Vale in a two-month loan deal in October 1988 as John Rudge needed cover for the injured Mark Grew.

Stowell's two-month loan spell at Wolverhampton in the spring of 1989 made a good impression on manager Graham Turner, who took him to Molineux permanently in July 1990 for a fee of £275,000.

[6] He featured 51 times in the 1991–92 campaign, though was limited to 29 appearances in the 1992–93 season, with back-up goalkeeper Paul Jones and loanee Dave Beasant filling in for the remainder.

They improved to a fourth-place finish under new manager Graham Taylor in 1994–95, Stowell featuring 45 times, before being eliminated from the play-offs after losing the semi-finals 3–2 on aggregate to Bolton Wanderers.

Stowell then featured 51 times in the 1996–97 campaign, with Wolves reaching third but again failing at the play-off semi-finals with a 4–3 aggregate defeat to Crystal Palace.

However, he eventually lost his first-team place to Michael Oakes, who joined the club in October 1999, limiting Stowell to 20 appearances in the 1999–2000 season.

[10] He made a total of 441 league and cup appearances in his 11-year stay at Wolves and for the final three years he also worked as a goalkeeping coach at the club's youth academy.

[26] Brendan Rodgers was named as Puel's successor three days later, taking charge shortly after Leicester beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2–1 in the Premier League.