Slough Town

The club began on 10 September 1889 with a meeting in Chalvey 'to consider the advisability of amalgamating the different football clubs in Slough and Chalvey.' Present were members of the Chalvey, Slough Albion and Friendly Society clubs. It was unanimously agreed to amalgamate. A further meeting was held on the 17 September 1889 at the Dolphin Hotel 'with the view of starting definitely a new and stable organisation bearing the name of the town and district'.

There were between thirty and forty players present. Mr. Godsal was voted to the chair, Mr. D. P. Hanrahan was appointed secretary, and Mr. F. Parker captain and treasurer. The entrance fee and club colours were decided upon and it was determined the club should enter Uxbridge F.C.'s Henesey Cup competition. On 12 October it was announced that local benefactor Mr. Algernon Gilliat would be Slough's president and that he had donated two guineas to the new club.

The first recorded game of Slough and District F.C. (shortened to Slough F.C.) was on 19 October 1889, at home against Maidenhead North Town Excelsior resulting in a 6–0 win. On 2 November 1889 the first team played Cookham Dean at the Dolphin Ground winning the game 7–0. The second team played Eton St. John's in Slough's Church Meadow resulting in a 2–2 draw. On 16 November the club played Colnbrook at Poyle Park, winning the game 3–1. On Boxing day 1889 Slough played Marlow at the Dolphin Ground winning 1–0.

After receiving a bye in the first round of the Henesey Challenge Cup, Slough played Darfield F.C. in the second round. After a 1–1 draw in East Acton on 28 December 1889 they lost 1–0 in the replay at the Dolphin Ground on 11 January 1890. The Dolphin Ground became Slough's home ground replacing the declining Swifts club there.

Slough joined the new Southern Alliance league in the 1892–3 season alongside the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Windsor & Eton. In the 1894–5 season the club entered the FA Cup for the first time. They played Marlow in the first qualifying round on 13 October 1894 at the Dolphin Ground, but were defeated 4–1. In the 1901–2 season Slough joined the inaugural Berks & Bucks Senior League. Their first game in the league was against Wycombe Wanderers at Loakes Park on 14 September 1901 resulting in a 2–0 defeat. In the 1905–6 season the club joined the Great Western Suburban League.

During this time, Slough developed its first major rivalry, with Windsor & Eton. The rivalry is still known today as the Thames River Derby and is played between Slough and Windsor & Eton (2023). In 1921, Slough attempted to join the Isthmian League but lost out to Wycombe Wanderers in the voting. Instead Slough chose to join the Spartan League.

In 1928, Slough's Dolphin Ground underwent development with a greyhound track being constructed around the football pitch. In March 1929, the ground was renamed the Dolphin Stadium. After the start of World War II in September 1939, the club was forced to vacate the stadium and began playing at Slough cricket ground. During the weekend of 7–8 October 1939, amateur clubs in the Berkshire & Buckinghamshire, including Slough, formed the Great Western Combination League. Slough played in the league in the 1939–40 season. In the 1940–41 to 1942–43 seasons, the club played in the Herts and Middlesex League. After having ground-shared with Maidenhead United in the 1941–42 and 1942–43 seasons, in July 1943 the club agreed to a merger with Slough Centre F.C. to return to a ground in their home town. The new club took the name Slough United F.C. and continued Slough Centre's membership of the Great Western Combination League for the 1943–44 season.

After the War, Slough United was reluctant to rejoin the Spartan League and led a breakaway movement to form a new league for the 1945–46 season, which became the Corinthian League. The club derived its nickname of "The Rebels" from that event. After the end of the 1946–47 season, the two clubs which had merged to form Slough United separated. The former Slough Centre F.C. returned to their original name, joining the Spartan League Division 1 (Western) on 3 July 1947 for the 1947–48 season. The former Slough F.C. club continued in the Corinthian League as Slough United at the start of the 1947–48 season, until changing their name to Slough Town F.C. in November 1947.

Slough Town won the Corinthian League in 1950–51 but, in 1964, the league folded and Slough, along with many other former Corinthian clubs, joined an expanded Athenian League. The Rebels were champions of that league on three occasions, with the third win earning promotion to the Isthmian League in 1973. During the 1980s, they were league champions on two occasions, the second of which brought promotion to the Football Conference. Slough lasted four seasons at that level, were relegated back to the Isthmian League, bounced back at the first attempt, and then played three more seasons of Conference football. In 1998, the consortium which had bought the club out of receivership seven years earlier decided that they were not prepared to pay for ground improvements required to remain in the Conference, and so the club was demoted back to the Isthmian League despite having finished in 8th place.

Further relegation to the Isthmian League Division One followed in 2000–01, but the club regained its Premier Division status in 2003–04 and remained there until the end of the 2006–07 season, when they finished bottom, having conceded over 120 goals. In the 2004–05 season, Slough knocked Walsall of Football League One out of the FA Cup. Highlights of the game were shown on Match of the Day although, because the team shared the Stag Meadow ground at the time, when introducing the rarely featured team the programme showed overhead shots of Windsor rather than Slough. Slough transferred to the Southern Football League Division One South & West for the 2007–08 season, and finished 21st out of 22 teams. Although initially relegated (for the second year running), they were one of the teams given a provisional reprieve after Halifax Town went into administration.

In the season of 2004–05, Slough Town beat Walsall to reach the 2nd round of the FA Cup, but they then lost to Yeading. Slough Town were also the Isthmian League Cup winners in 2004–05 after they beat Hampton & Richmond Borough 3–1 in the final, with two goals from Ian Hodges and one from Josias Carbon helping them secure the win and the silverware.