Gloucester's first competitive game in October 1889 was a Gloucestershire FA Junior Challenge Cup 1st Round tie beating Clifton Association Reserves 10–0 at Budding's Field.

In 1934–35, after winning both the Cup and League, City turned semi-professional, and joined the Birmingham Combination, as well as moving to a new stadium in Longlevens where the club stayed for the next 26 years.

They won the Tillotson Cup for being the best club in the Birmingham Combination, and then had former Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Reg Weaver blow away all records with his stunning tally of 67 goals in the 1937–38 season.

In 1939 the club played in the Southern Football League for the very first time, albeit in a restricted wartime competition, as they took part in the west section.

The club's all-time attendance record was set at Longlevens in 1952 when Stan Myers and Peter Price scored to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 in front of 10,500 spectators, a side which included the superstars of the day such as future World Cup winner Alf Ramsey, Ted Ditchburn, Charlie Withers and Les Medley.

In 1964 the club moved grounds again, from Longlevens to the massive Horton Road Stadium, closer to the centre of Gloucester, which could possibly hold over 30,000 people if full.

Players such as Lance Morrison, Steve Talboys, Wayne Noble, Chris Townsend and Brian Hughes took to the Southern League Midland Division title in 1989, clinching the crown at home against Grantham Town.

The knock-on effect of the flood saw incredible scenes at Meadow Park as the pitch was submerged under 4 feet (1.2 m) of water, and the whole ground was out of commission for over a month.

The club hosted European sides at Meadow Park during this period, such as Dinamo Minsk from Belarus and Gornik Zabrze from Poland.

The squad was ripped apart: major players were released for derisory sums, some went unpaid and took the club to the FA, and forced a transfer embargo.

A memorable game during the period was when Dave Porter scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over rivals Cheltenham Town at Whaddon Road in 1994.

Former West Ham United striker Leroy Rosenior took over and had to virtually rebuild the team from scratch after most of the players walked out in the wake of Murphy's dismissal.

To exacerbate the situation, just before Christmas 2000, Meadow Park was struck another blow when the River Severn burst its banks for the second time in a decade.

He was followed by Chris Burns, who was tempted back from Forest Green Rovers and brought with him a number of inexperienced young players to accommodate the club's limited wage structure.

To add to the upturn, on the field Burns' young team upset a lot of the more fancied challengers and reached the quarter finals of the FA Trophy.

Chris Burns resigned as manager in January 2006, Neil Mustoe took over as caretaker-manager until the permanent appointment of Tim Harris from Merthyr Tydfil was made.

An astonishing picture, featured in The Sun, on Sky News and on the BBC, shot the club to national attention both in the media and among football supporters across the country.

On 21 November 2010, against Chelmsford City, midfielder Tom Webb became the club's all-time appearance holder,[11] beating Stan Myers who had broken the record 50 years previously.

In 2012–13, the club reached the FA Cup 1st Round proper for the first time in 23 years, drawing Football League One outfit Leyton Orient at home.

On 30 November 2017, manager Tim Harris resigned from his position citing that the club "needs some investment, some structure and business acumen if it is to maintain any hope of returning home at this level.

As the search began for a new manager, on 5 October 2018, club legend and record appearance holder Tom Webb announced his retirement from his playing career.

On 10 October 2018, the search was over and Chris Todd was announced as the new first team manager following a 3 nil FA Cup win away at Dorking Wanderers.

[24] He was joined by other ex-Tigers Karl Bayliss and Andy Hoskins, whilst Tom Webb and Mike Green were retained to complete the coaching staff.

[29] After a disastrous start to the 2021–22 season, including a humiliating 9–0 defeat at Chorley, Paul Groves was sacked and replaced by Gloucester-born Lee Mansell who steadied the ship and earned City a 17th-place finish.

Flowers lost his job in September and was replaced by a returning Mike Cook,[30][31] but he was unable to turn the season around as City succumbed to relegation after 15 years in the National League.

Gloucester Rugby Club had also earlier rejected plans to move to a new purpose built 15,000 capacity community stadium in a derelict area of the city nicknamed "The Triangle" near to the railway station.

Any news regarding this possible switch soon went quiet, with the main area of concern being poor access roads and a spate of vandalism already occurring in that district.

[36] In November 2008, local MP and supporter Parmjit Dhanda spoke in the House of Commons regarding the search for a new home for the club in the city in the hopes of finding a successful outcome.

The plan incorporated an additional phase of work to take the stadium to over 4,000 capacity and meet FA category A requirements to enable the club to take part in the National League.

However, in 2007, Gloucester City began groundsharing at Rovers' New Lawn Stadium, which ended acrimoniously between the clubs, forcing the Tigers further into exile at Cirencester Town.