In the 1900–01 FA Cup they reached the second round, beating Football League opponents Burton Swifts and Chesterfield before losing 5–0 at Middlesbrough.

[9] They were runners-up in the Eastern Division in 1924–25, and after finishing fourth in 1926–27 the club applied for Football League membership again, receiving only one vote.

[10] They were Eastern Division champions the following season and went on to win the overall Southern League championship, beating Bristol City Reserves 5–0 in a play-off.

[12] After retaining the Eastern Division title in 1928–29 the club lost the championship play-off 4–2 to Plymouth Argyle Reserves.

[12] In 1930 the club joined the Birmingham & District League,[11] taking the place of their reserve team.

[16] Despite only finishing eighth the following season the club received one vote in the Football League elections,[16] a result that was to be repeated every year until 1961.

Further unsuccessful attempts were made at Football League membership in 1967 and 1969, but they failed to win a vote on either occasion.

In 1975 Northern Irish international Derek Dougan was appointed player-manager and business manager.

[19] After its use in the Southern League Premier Division match against Bath City on 24 January 1976 the FA demanded that the club remove the sponsor's logo threatening a fine of £1000, and were not impressed when Dougan initially attempted to circumvent the FA's demands by shortening the branding 'Kettering Tyres' to simply 'Kettering T', claiming the T stood for "Town".

[11] The following season saw them reach the final of the FA Trophy, where they lost 2–0 to Stafford Rangers at Wembley.

The club applied for the final time in 1979 after finishing as runners-up in the Southern League's Premier Division, by which time only two non-League clubs were allowed to enter the ballot, but they finished last behind Northern Premier League runners-up Altrincham.

[22] In 1979 the club were founder members of the Alliance Premier League, a single national division at the top of the non-League pyramid.

[11] In 1999–2000 the club reached the final of the FA Trophy for a second time, losing 3–2 to Kingstonian in one of the last matches played at the old Wembley Stadium.

A fourth-place finish led to them qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which they beat Droylsden 2–1 in the semi-finals before losing 3–2 to Altrincham in the final.

In 2006–07 the club were Conference North runners-up, but lost to 4–2 on aggregate Farsley Celtic in the play-off semi-finals.

[11] Following a fourth-place finish in the Premier Division in 2017–18, they lost 3–1 to Slough Town in the play-off semi-finals.

[26] The club initially played at North Park, before moving to Green Lane and then Rockingham Road in 1897.

[29] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.