The club's first few seasons saw Margate playing friendlies as well as competitive matches in cups including the Kent Junior Cup and the FA Amateur Cup. The club joined the Thanet & District League in 1909, followed by the Kent League's Eastern Section in 1911. During this time the club played home matches at a variety of grounds such as Clare House, Margate College and Northdown Corner.
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Margate - by now playing at the Hall By The Sea ground at Dreamland - turned professional after the end of the First World War and joined Division One of the Kent League. The club moved to a ground in Garlinge in the early 20s but financial problems saw it fold in 1923, reforming as Margate Town in 1924 and returning to play at Dreamland. The club folded again in 1928, reforming the following year and playing at a new ground, Hartsdown Park.
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Kent League Margate reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for the first time in 1929-30, beating Gillingham. One of the hero’s was Margate’s Dutch goalkeeper, Gerard Keizer. He would travel from Holland to England to play and later played for Arsenal & Ajax.
The club joined the Southern League in 1933-34 and the nursery agreement with Arsenal started the following season. The most successful season in the club's history so far was 1935-36, reaching the FA Cup Third Round and winning four of five competitions entered - both the Southern League Eastern Division and Central Division titles plus the Kent Senior Cup and Kent Senior Shield. More honours followed in 1936-37, including the Southern League Midweek Section. However, financial problems saw Margate return to the Kent League in 1937-38, becoming champions in what would be the final season of the Arsenal agreement. Heavily in debt, the club folded in 1938, reforming in 1939-40.
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The first couple of seasons after the end of the war were highly successful for Margate with the Kent League title won in both 1947 and 1948 under player-manager Charlie Walker. Under Almer Hall, the club was runners-up three times during the 50s and had some good FA Cup runs with ties against Walsall, Millwall and Crystal Palace. It was also a period that saw new stands built at Hartsdown, including the Cornhill Stand, also known as the 'Coffin End'. In 1950. For the beginning of the 1949/1950 season, the club changed their kit from amber & black to blue & white!.
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Margate were part of the exodus of clubs from the Kent League to the expanded Southern League in 1959, building rivalries with teams from as far afield as South Wales. The club had some notable FA Cup runs in the 60s and 70s, most famously the Third Round tie at Hartsdown against Tottenham Hotspur in 1973. There then followed a period of decline with plummeting attendances prompting merger talks with Ramsgate in the late 70s. Margate eventually made the decision to go it alone and changed name to Thanet United in 1981.
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For eight seasons in the 1980s, Margate played under the name Thanet United. The decision to change name had initially been taken in the late 70s and proved controversial. The rationale for the new identity was that greater sponsorship would be forthcoming from the council and local business community. Alas, this did not come to fruition and the Thanet era can be largely characterised as a period of struggle on and off the pitch during a time when football crowds in general had reached an all-time low.
There were some highlights though - 84/85 saw us flirt with a promotion challenge and we were finalists in the Eastern Floodlight Cup. In 1987, we went on a 24-match unbeaten run and reached the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. However, further financial pressures in 88/89 eventually saw a new board take over the club and a return to the name Margate FC.
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Reverting to the name Margate saw some disappointing seasons in the Southern League in the early 90s and a succession of managers, though the club won its first knockout trophy in 20 years with the Kent Senior Cup in 1994. The appointment of Chris Kinnear as manager in 1996 heralded a golden age for the club, which culminated with promotion to the highest level of non-league football, the Conference, in 2001.
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The first campaign in the Conference saw an eighth place finish and was Margate's last full season at the old Hartsdown Park. For 2002-03, the club started a groundshare at Dover Athletic in preparation for the redevelopment of Hartsdown. Continued delays to the project saw the club remain at Dover for two seasons and ultimately resign from the Conference in 2004. The 2004-05 season was spent in Conference South playing at Ashford Town - a traumatic campaign which saw the club's existence under threat and ended with relegation to the Isthmian League.
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Margate joined the Isthmian League for the first time in 2005-06, a season which also saw a return to a rebuilt Hartsdown Park. Within a few years financial problems saw the club struggling and Margate gained reprieves from relegation in two successive seasons. The next major event in the club's history was the big-money ownership of Bob Laslett, which resulted in promotion in 2015. Things soon turned sour, however, and Laslett's exit from the club ended with Margate's relegation from National League South in 2017 and return to the Isthmian League.
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