Stanton started out playing junior football for Liverpool before turning professional in 1965.
In eight seasons with Bristol Rovers he made 168 League appearances, eleven of those as a substitute, and scored seven times, before dropping down into non-League football in 1976 when he joined Weymouth.
Another stint as a player-coach followed in 1982, this time with Clevedon Town, and he was later appointed their manager.
He returned for a third spell with Bristol Rovers in 1983, where he spent a year coaching their schoolboy teams.
Following his retirement from football, Stanton started up an antiques business in the Clifton area of Bristol.