The club was founded in 1987 by Retfordian Brian Jackson to give the town a senior club after Retford Townhad gone out of business. The club's inaugural season was in the Gainsborough & District League which was successful so it applied to join the Notts Football Alliance the following season and competed in that league up until 2001, when they joined the Central Midlands League. Just three years passed before another milestone was reached and the club joined the Northern Counties East League. The success continued, finishing as runners-up in the Northern Counties East League Division One in 2005–06, gaining promotion to the Premier Division, which they won at their first attempt. They were then promoted to the Northern Premier League Division One South, which they won two years running, gaining promotion to the Premier Division in 2009. In all, between 2000 and 2009, they won a total of six championships, of various leagues and divisions, in nine seasons. However, at the end of the 2010–11 season they finished bottom and were relegated to the Northern Premier League Division One South. Due to financial constraints, the club opted to resign from the Northern Premier League and to compete in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division where they again won the title in the 2011/12 season but they rejected promotion opting instead to continue in NCEL. Retford reached the fifth round of the FA Vase in the 2006–07 season, while their best run inthe FA Cup has consisted of one appearance in the fourth qualifying round, in the 2008–09 season, where they were defeated 3–1 by Alfreton Town. Their first season in the FA Trophy in 2007–08 took them to the first round where they were defeated 5–2 by Histon. Retford were relegated from the 1st division of the NCEL at the end of season 2017-2018 and now play in the Central Midlands North League. The club has been taken over by the ONECALL insurance group and is now an Ltd Company. ONECALL have refurbished the clubhouse, changing rooms and outside areas of the ground. The current Manager is Liam Kay.
Origins and youth structure
When Retford United was formed in 1987 it consisted of a senior team in the Gainsborough & District League and an under 10 youth team. Looking forward the aim was to get the senior team climbing the football league pyramid, and at youth level add a new team at the youngest age group until the club was competing at every level up to the seniors. Also girls football was introduced in the later years and still continues. The first-ever youth games were played on the Jenkins Sports Ground on Thrumpton Lane. The Junior Section of the club now operate independently at Oaklands as Retford United Junior F.C. The first senior games were played on the council-owned Goosemoor for a short period before moving to Oaklands and eventually to Cannon Park on Leverton Road at the start of the new millennium.
