When the Football League was resumed in 1919, County applied successfully to join for the first time while Town's application was turned down but they were allowed back into the Midland League. The first league game took place at Millmoor and County beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 but it proved to be a season of struggle and they finished in 17^th position out of 22. When it was decided to introduce Division Three, Town were hopeful of becoming Rotherham's second League club but they received just 13 votes, not enough to gain admittance. Rumours had already been spreading that the two clubs might amalgamate and when County were relegated in 1923, the move looked more likely.

With Town's outlook becoming more and more bleak with ever-mounting financial problems, a resolution was passed in March 1925 that Town would be wound up and a new club to be named Rotherham United was officially born on May 27, 1925. The new club was officially given League status but the first season wasn't a particularly good one and they finished 14th. That was to be the pattern over the next few years as the lack of finances proved to be an ongoing problem and in an attempt to give a boost, greyhound racing was introduced in May 1931. But that was brought to an end a year later by the Football League and the next decade saw little improvement on the playing front with sixth in season 1937-38 being the best they achieved.

Football continued during the Second World War when teams had to introduce guest players but the last of those years brought some much awaited success for Rotherham as they won the Third Division Cup and the Division Three (East) league trophy. That set the scene for greatly improved fortunes and when normal playing resumed, United finished in the runner-up position for three successive season from 1946-47. In that first season Wally Ardron scored 38 league goals in 40 appearances and the attendances were regularly in five figures. After three narrow failures in their efforts to gain promotion with only one team going up to Division Two, Rotherham slipped down to sixth in 1949-50 but the following season they clinched the championship in superb style hitting 103 goals in 46 games.

That took them into a higher status and they quickly showed they were capable of coping with some outstanding performances including wins against Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, West Ham United and Southampton. They finished in ninth position but in 1953-54 they did even better as they moved up to fifth. Along the way, the team produced some outstanding results with none better than the 3-1 win at Newcastle United in the FA Cup third round in January 1953. The Magpies had won the cup in the previous two seasons and they were optimistic of making it a hat-trick - but Rotherham shattered those dreams.

However, the best was yet to come and in 1954-55 they missed promotion to Division One - the current Premiership - by the narrowest of margins. They finished level on points with champions Birmingham City and Luton Town who both went up but they missed out on goal average. That was to be Rotherham's pinnacle and the next few seasons saw them struggle to make a similar impact.

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