The club decided to pursue amateur instead of professional football and joined the Great Western Suburban League and remained there until the outbreak of the First World War.

The club also reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in November 1932, losing to Gillingham in a replay at Loakes Park.

The second round proper of the FA Cup was reached in December 1959 when the club was defeated 5–1 by Watford at Vicarage Road.

The club suffered yet more FA Amateur Cup disappointment at the semi-final stage, losing 2–1 to Hendon at Griffin Park, Brentford.

A fifth Isthmian League title was won in 1974 and the following season it was defended yet again, this time by the narrowest of margins, a superior goal difference of 0–1 to Enfield.

The club moved to its new Adams Park home in 1990, and in May 1991, the Blues defeated Kidderminster Harriers 2–1 in the final of the FA Trophy in front of a then-record crowd.

O'Neill rejected the chance to manage Nottingham Forest that summer, staying with Wycombe to lead the club to fourth in the Third Division and qualify for the play-offs in their inaugural season in the Football League.

Former Crystal Palace manager Alan Smith was appointed as his successor, but was sacked in September 1996 as Wycombe struggled in the bottom half of the Second Division.

Safety was secured on the final day of the season when Paul Emblen headed home the winner seven minutes from time to beat Lincoln City 1–0.

In 2000–01, Wycombe began a successful FA Cup run, with wins over First Division sides Grimsby Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wimbledon taking them to a quarter-final with Premiership outfit Leicester City.

The semi-final at Villa Park saw Wycombe face Liverpool, and goals from Emile Heskey and Robbie Fowler put the Premiership side up 2–0.

A last ditch effort from club mainstay Keith Ryan gave some hope to the Wanderers, but they would exit the competition after succumbing to a 2–1 defeat.

Chairman Ivor Beeks, Director Brian Kane and sponsor Steve Hayes all subsequently invested in the club, with an approximate total value of £750,000.

[citation needed] Adams remained in the manager's job for just a year, resigning in November 2004, and John Gorman was appointed as his successor.

A double tragedy would soon hit the club, however, with midfielder Mark Philo killed in a road accident in January 2006 and Gorman's wife Myra dying of cancer in March.

Having previously never passed the second round, Wycombe defeated Fulham away, and knocked out then Premier League side Charlton Athletic in the quarter-finals.

The Wanderers drew the first leg 1–1 at Adams Park, with Jermaine Easter scoring a late equaliser after a first half goal from Wayne Bridge.

The second leg at Stamford Bridge was a different story, as doubles from both Andriy Shevchenko and Frank Lampard saw Wycombe lose 4–0 and exit the competition.

The side was nine points clear at the top at Christmas but results soon tailed off and the team eventually finished in the last automatic promotion place, ahead of Bury by virtue of a superior goal difference of just one.

[8] Taylor was sacked in October 2009 after a poor start to the season,[9] and was replaced by Gary Waddock who was unable to save the club from relegation back to League Two.

He led the side to a third-place finish, and achieved a points total of 80, the highest the club had recorded since its promotion to the Football League.

[13] The season also included their 125th anniversary, and the shirt design was an adaptation of their first-ever kit, in Oxford and Cambridge Blue halves (instead of quarters).

Following the near-relegation of the previous season, Gareth Ainsworth released seven players from the club,[20] including defender Leon Johnson who had made 200 appearances in 7 years.

However, two costly home defeats to Morecambe and local rivals Oxford United led to a finishing position of 4th, setting up a play-off fixture against Plymouth Argyle.

The play-off final took place on 23 May and within five seconds of kick-off Wycombe midfielder Sam Saunders pulled his calf muscle and had to be substituted for Matt Bloomfield in the fourth minute.

Southend continued to put pressure on Wycombe until Joe Pigott scored in the 122nd minute to tie the game at 1–1 and send it to a penalty shoot out.

An improved run of form, which included back-to-back wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City, lifted Wycombe to 22nd in the table, but three successive defeats in December saw the club drop to bottom position on the Saturday before Christmas.

Still bottom of the table going into the Easter period, Wycombe's fortunes then began to turn around significantly, and they still had a theoretical outside chance of survival going into the final game away at Middlesbrough.

After Derby County, previously accused of breaching financial fair play regulations, went into administration in September 2021, Wycombe considered legal action to recoup potential losses of up to £20m.

It was ignited in the 2014–15 League Two Playoffs and flared up in January 2016, where Barry Richardson, who was 46 years old at the time, played a professional game for the first time since 2005, coming on for an injured Alex Lynch and keeping a clean sheet, prompting the Plymouth Argyle Twitter Admin to respond negatively to the playing style,[40] with most Wycombe fans proclaiming 30 January 2016 as "Barry Richardson Day"[41][42] The club's average home league attendances since 1980–81 (* = approximate figure, ^ = season curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic (18 home games), ¬ = limited spectator attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2 home games)).Averages have been calculated from referenced sources.