The Tigers regained NPL Premier Division status in 1998, by which time Chris Waddle was pulling on a Worksop shirt, and in 1999 they finished as runners-up in the NPL, only just missing out on promotion to the Football Conference. In 2004 they were founder members of the Conference North, but they only lasted three years in the division before being relegated back to the Northern Premier League, and it was around this time that the club fell into financial difficulties and lost ownership of their home ground at Sandy Lane, being forced to rent the grounds of Hucknall Town, Ilkeston Town and Retford United for three years.