The club are members of the Isthmian League South East Division and play at the Penny Roofing Stadium, formerly known as Holm Park.

As in most parts of the UK, football began to make an appearance on the Isle of Sheppey in the middle of the 19th Century with local records showing teams active on the island from the 1860s onwards.

In time for the 1888 Kent Merit Badge competition (the immediate precursor to today's Kent Senior Cup) the Invicta and Victoria made the decision to enter a joint side named "Sheerness" in order to challenge the two pre-eminent sides in the competition, Woolwich Arsenal and Chatham Town.

That same year another professional Football League club, Accrington, were beaten 3–2 at Botany Road and Chatham Town were finally defeated in an FA Cup tie 1–0.

Dover, Royal Engineers and Folkestone were all beaten before Sheppey lost 3–1 in the First Round Proper to two-time FA Cup Winners Old Etonians.

By 1888 the Football League had been formed although this was mainly limited to northern and midlands clubs (Arsenal were southern England's sole representative having joined Division 2 in 1893).

[8] The following season they finished second again, and this time won the test match, defeating Royal Ordnance Factories 4–2 to earn promotion to Division One.

[8] One notable performance in the FA Cup was beating West Ham United (then known as Thames Ironworks) 8–0 in a First Qualifying Round tie on 10 October 1897 at Botany Road.

In their first season in Division One they finished second bottom of the table, but avoided relegation by defeating RETB Chatham 2–1 in the test matches.

In 1898–99 they again finished second bottom of the table but retained their Division One status after drawing the test match against Thames Ironworks 1–1.

[8] However, the following season they finished bottom of the table and lost the test match against Watford 2–1, resulting in relegation back to Division Two.

[8] The financial burden of travelling to all parts of the south of England were deemed too much with the club not in the top division of the Southern League.

[11] In the years leading up to 1914, however, results and league positions declined and the club found itself finishing in the bottom half of the table more often than not.

During this time Sheppey's side was initially built around the goalscoring talents of Ted Harper before he signed for Blackburn Rovers and, later on in the decade, former England international Danny Shea.

[19] Sheppey finished bottom of the table in their first season back, but a gradual improvement saw them win the league for the seventh and last time in 1994–95.

During this time financial issues had seen the club leave Botany Road at the end of the 1991–92 season after calling the ground home for 102 years.

When the players coming through the youth system were old enough the senior side was reformed and they joined Division Two East of the Kent County League.

[2][21] In 2012–13 Sheppey were unable to field a side for several games due to a lack of players and pulled out of the Kent County League before the season finished.

On 3 November 2018 Sheppey won 2–1 away to Spelthorne Sports to progress to the 3nd Round of the FA Vase for the first time in the club's history.

[25] The following week they lifted the Kent Senior Trophy for a second time in the season when a 2–1 victory over Hollands & Blair won them the 2021–22 instalment of the competition.

[26] A 3–0 win over already relegated Tower Hamlets on the final day of the season saw Sheppey reach 102 points and beat Chatham Town to the title.

[27] On 2 May 2022, the club won their fourth trophy of the season when a 5–2 final victory over Crowborough Athletic saw the side life the Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup.

The club's financial issues of the late 80s and early 90s meant that ground maintenance suffered and the 2 stands at either end of the pitch became unsafe during this time and could not be used any more.

Sheppey's final home ground before withdrawing from the Kent League in March 2001 and ceasing playing senior football for the first time in the club's history was at nearest neighbours Sittingbourne's Central Park stadium.

It had previously been the home of a number of Sheppey Sunday League sides including Canning Town and Sheerness Steel.

The pitch was brought up to Kent County League standard and major work was begun on the stadium facilities as well.

As the club make their debut at Step 4 for the first time, the car park at the ground has been fully tarmacked and an additional tea bar by the Queenborough Road stand has been built.

A growing rivalry with Sittingbourne has once again developed as Sheppey have progressed through the non-league pyramid to stand only 1 division below their oldest rivals as of the current season.

Correct as of 5 January 2024 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

+ Won by Reserves In 2014 Kelvin Hughes released a novel called "The Forgotten Footballer"[36] in which the protagonist returns to Sheppey United, his first club, as manager after winning 3 league titles with Arsenal and playing for England 50 times shortly after completing a prison sentence.