Before World War Two the roles of Team Secretary and Coach or Trainer were the closest positions to a modern day manager. The role of Team Secretary seemed mainly to have been an administrative post. It was never too clear how much influence a Team Secretary had, although they tended to have a place on the Selection Committee that picked the players for each match. The first mention of a Team Secretary was at the start of the 1921-1922 season when W. Wiggins was appointed. Tom Vinson, who had been a trainer with Old Kingstonians, took over the role at the start of the following season, remaining in the post until 1934-1935. Ted Edwards then took over and remained in place until 1947, when he was replaced by George Holling on a full vote of the members of the club. Edwards had been included in the list of nominees and the need for a vote indicated the role was more than just administrative, especially given the members chose to appoint a current player to carry out that role. The post was described at the time as Team Manager, however, during his time in that role, Holling was generally still referred to as just a Team Secretary. Signing of players happened by a process of a player applying to become a member of the club and being accepted by the committee, it was therefore never clear how the process of attracting new players was conducted and whether any particular individual had this as one of their specific roles.

Before the start of the 1949-1950 season Kingstonian employed a professional coach for the first time. Jack Crawford had previously played for Chelsea and England, and his training improved the team immensely, but it was noted in a Surrey Comet article that he rarely saw the team play as he was simply involved in coaching all the different levels of teams at the club. In July 1953 Kingstonian dispensed with his services and the role reverted to amateur status with the appointment of Doug Whitehead and Danny Mills as joint coaches. Mills was also still playing for the first team at the time. This only lasted until December of that year, when Mills left the club to go to Walton & Hersham, and Bill Fraser was appointed as "Head Coach" in his place, while Whitehead remained involved in training. Fraser had previously been Head Coach at Walton & Hersham until released on "economy grounds". It was noted in 1955 that the coach did not have a vote on the selection committee, although could put his views forward.

Bill Kennedy, who had played for Millwall and Hibernian, replaced Bill Fraser as coach in July 1955. Kennedy resigned in March 1957 saying that the selection committee often ignored his advice, even though he was on that committee. He also claimed he was being blamed for any failings in team performance despite his limited powers. He was replaced by Arthur Crook from Walton & Hersham who stated he wished to only be concerned with coaching matters and rejected a place on the selection committee. Crook later commented that he had been the first coach to actually use a football during training sessions. The Team Secretary of the time, Cyril Clements, had a place on the selection committee at this point along with two other former players, George Lee and Jimmy Webster.

Vince Burgess took over after resigning at Hitchin Town and he was to spend six years at Kingstonian. He was a well-liked manager, but the club was in decline and there were to be no trophies to his name during his time there. He left "by mutual consent" in March 1976. Tony Slade and Bill McNully acted as caretaker managers, but it was not long before the club were to appoint Roy Sleep, formerly of Slough Town, as their new manager. He was to last less than a year before he was relieved of his duties and Sleap also cited cuts to the playing budget that he had been asked to make. K's then welcomed back Peter Gleeson for his second spell as manager. It was intended to be a permanent appointment, but he too only lasted a year with K's dangerously close to the relegation zone in the 1977-1978 season.

Former Millwall and Brentford player Barry Rowan was next given the job over the Summer of 1978, but he became the third manager in a row to last only a year. It was to be the season that K's were finally relegated to the First Division of the Isthmian League for the first time in their history. Bill McNully was given the role as caretaker manager until the end of the season with Ken Ballard, former Staines manager, already appointed and taking stock.

Miller's first two seasons at the club were a time of further decline and in his second season Kingstonian were only four points from a second relegation. However things turned around in the 1984-1985 season and Miller was to take K's back to the Isthmian League Premier Division. This was, however, due to a points deduction to Leatherhead that was only confirmed after the season had finished. K's had a successful first season back in the Premier Division, finishing in eighth place, but Miller was relieved of his duties in March 1986 as a cost-cutting measure and Kelly was promoted to manager.

There was little change to Kingstonian's fortunes over the first couple of seasons with Kelly in charge, although in the 1986-1987 season they were to win their first trophy in twenty years by beating Hampton in the final of the London Senior Cup. However, with more funds becoming available as Richmond Road was sold and the Kingsmeadow ground developed, Kelly began to turn things around. K's were to finish sixth in the season before their move to Kingsmeadow, and two top five finishes followed in their first two seasons there, as well as an F.A. Trophy run that took them to the Fourth Round Proper. The early Kingsmeadow years under Kelly were full of promise and he assembled a talented team, but honours still eluded them.

From the 1992-1993 season onwards, Kelly moved more into the administrative side of the club. As part of this transition, Richard Parkin and Chris Kelly were officially named joint Team Managers for the 1993-1994 season with some uncertainty about how the arrangement worked. When Kelly was appointed Chief Executive at the start of the 1994-1995 season, Parkin become sole Team Manager. However events moved quickly and, with other commitments on his time, Parkin had appointed Micky Droy as Assistant Manager at the start of September. Within a week of this announcement Parkin had officially left and Droy took over, initially in a temporary position of Team Manager before being given the permanent role shortly afterwards. Those three seasons still saw K's without a trophy to their name, although in two of them Kingstonian made the F.A. Cup Proper rounds for the first time since before World War Two. This included a memorable 2-1 win over Brighton in the First Round Proper in 1994-1995 season under Droy.

Smith was to spend only a little over a year at the club, but he was to get K's to the Second Round of the F.A. Cup as well as winning the Isthmian League Cup. The Cup win was memorable for beating Aldershot Town 4-1 in the Final and playing at an ex-Football League ground. Aldershot had gone bankrupt and had to start over again in the lower leagues, and it was a fine achievement against a team on their way back to the Football League. Smith was also able to improve their league position somewhat with an eighth-place finish. However in September 1996 he was relieved of his duties, a decision that the club claimed was down to poor results on a substantial playing budget.

There then followed two short term appointments with Willie Smith taking charge for two months, followed by Micky Cook as Caretaker Manager for six weeks following Smith's resignation. Ex-Kingstonian player, Graham Westley, then offered his services and took charge in January 1997. Westley had big ideas for the club and brought in various initiatives on and off the pitch but disputes on the direction of the club saw him part company after the end of the season. Westley went on to purchase a controlling ownership in Farnborough Town, whom he was to take into the Football Conference as owner-manager.

There were a few wobbles in the first half of the season with exits from both the F.A. Cup and F.A. Trophy before any memorable matches had taken place. At Christmas the league position also seemed off the pace for a championship challenge. However things came good in the New Year and Kingstonian went on an unbeaten run of thirteen games, which included twelve wins. This put them top of the league and resulted in promotion at the first time of asking. They were also to win the Surrey Senior Cup after a replay against Chapple's old club Woking.

Chapple began the most successful period in the club's recent history. In their first two seasons he took them to eighth and fifth place in the Football Conference and won the F.A. Trophy in both of those seasons as well as some good runs in the F.A. Cup. However in the 2000-2001 season Kingstonian were relegated back to the Isthmian League. That season they had progressed to the furthest they had ever achieved in their history in the F.A. Cup. They reached the Fourth Round and only went out in a replay at home to Bristol City, having been denied a win in the away game by an equaliser scored in the fourth minute of injury time. But cup runs had been a distraction from a precarious league position and an ageing team was unable to turn things around in the final two months of the season.

Following relegation, the club parted company with Chapple in the Summer of 2001 and appointed Bill Williams, previously a manager at Dover Athletic with Conference experience, in what later was found to be a last-ditch attempt for a quick turnaround to avoid the club going into administration. Williams came with a strong pedigree but could not turn their fortunes around and attendances dropped. The club was in the bottom half of the table when a defeat at Brockenhurst in the potentially money-making F.A. Cup triggered voluntary Finanical Administration a few days later.

Shortly after the Brockenhurst defeat Bill Williams left "by mutual consent" and returned to a role at Dover. He was replaced by Assistant Manager Steve Sedgley and not long afterwards Financial Administration was confirmed.

Under Sedgley form improved, although K's were still to finish in the lower half of the table. Rajesh Khosla took over ownership of the club in the Summer of 2002 and, under difficult circumstances, Sedgley made some progress in the 2002-2003 season, taking the club as high as fifth in the league table with some decent runs in cup competitions, but he was to resign in December 2002 to "spend more time with his family".

Kim Harris, who had been Assistant Manager under Sedgley, took over and was manager for a little over eighteen months, steering K's though a difficult period that included budget cuts and the purchase of Kingsmeadow by A.F.C. Wimbledon. However, with salary payments to players arriving late and at one point a refusal to play by three of the players, K's were unable to make the cut for the newly formed Conference South Division that had only required them to finish in thirteenth place.

They did make the play-offs due to an eighteenth-place finish. This involved a knock out competition for two places, involving teams who finished up to twentieth in the Isthmian Premier League, as well as Lewes qualifying from the lower division. After a semi-final 4-2 victory on penalties over Harrow Borough, having finished 0-0 in normal time, K's were beaten 1-0 in their play-off final at Lewes. Therefore, although K's remained in the Premier Division, they dropped down one level in the pyramid due to the establishment of the Conference North and South divisions.

Steele was replaced by Ian McDonald who, having taken K's to a Surrey Senior Cup triumph against landlords A.F.C. Wimbledon in May 2006, left shortly afterwards. Stuart McIntyre was appointed in his place just before the time that the club changed hands again with Mark Anderson taking over as owner of the club along with Malcolm Winwright.

There then followed three seasons of mid-table finishes before K's had another chance of promotion to Conference South in the 2013-2014 season. They finished second, which gave them the opportunity for two home games in the play-offs. Unfortunately, they fell at the first hurdle by losing 1-0 to A.F.C. Hornchurch. It was a huge disappointment but still something of a surprise when he announced his resignation shortly after. Dowson was to move to Hampton & Richmond Borough early in the 2014-2015 season, where he fought a successful battle against relegation and was to get them promoted to Conference South a year later.

Alan Dowson

K's then turned to experienced manager Craig Edwards to save them, and he performed a near miracle, winning three and drawing two of the final six games to keep K's in the Isthmian Premier with one game to spare. It had been intended to be a temporary appointment, but Edwards was persuaded to stay on. However Edwards had joined at a time of turmoil for the club as they said goodbye to Kingsmeadow, with the final match against champions Havant & Waterlooville being their last at the stadium. They then embarked on a series of groundshares while looking for a new home, with Edwards taking a permanent position during the first of those groundshares at Leatherhead. In the first game of the new season Edwards surprised everyone with a 1-0 win at his old club Billericay Town, who were strongly tipped to win the league after a significant investment by the new owner. However his period in charge only lasted until October 2017 when he was to resign.

Kim Harris stepped in to manage the club for two matches, before Edwards' replacement was announced as Leigh Dynan, formerly manager at Whyteleafe. After a mid-table finish in 2017-2018, the next season started well for Dynan and K's were as high as second in the table at the turn of the year, but a dreadful run of six league defeats in a row culminating in a 7-1 defeat at Dorking saw him part company with the club in February 2019 as K's edged towards the relegation zone. Dean Brennan was brought in to try and turn K's fortunes around and prevent a possible relegation battle but resigned after K's picked up just one point in five games under his leadership. It was left to Kim Harris to steady the ship once again and although the team only managed one win in the final seven games it was enough to avoid a serious relegation battle.

In his first full season in 2021-2022 Bird took K's to the top of the Isthmian League but gradually form dropped off and K's finished in tenth place. Bird also took K's to the Surrey Senior Cup final where they lost on penalties to Dorking Wanderers.

With changes happening off the field, the 2023-2024 season started badly for Lane and K's were bottom of the league by the time he resigned in February 2024. Lane's assistant, Tutu Henriques, took over as temporary manager until the end of the season, but relegation became a distinct possibility, and the final two months of the season saw only one win with K's confirmed as relegated in last place.