The 2020–21 season was Port Vale's 109th season in the English Football League and fourth consecutive season in EFL League Two. Though no honours were won on the pitch, Port Vale was named as Community Club of the Year at the 2021 EFL Awards for their work helping the local area during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Going into his second full season as the club's manager, John Askey kept largely the same squad that finished just outside the play-offs in 2019–20, signing just seven players before the season kicked off in September. Fans were not allowed to attend matches due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Vale exited the EFL Cup in the second round but were second in the league by the end of September. Four wins and three defeats in October in seven games saw them maintain a play-off place. However, they lost six matches in November, causing them to exit the FA Cup in the first round to non-League King's Lynn Town and drop firmly into mid-table in the league. Pressure built over the Christmas period as Vale ended the year 16th in the table, and Askey left the club on 4 January, two days after a 4–0 defeat to Mansfield Town. Danny Pugh spent the rest of the month as caretaker manager, overseeing comprehensive victories over Grimsby Town and Southend United as well as an exit from the EFL Trophy and two defeats in games he was unable to attend due to him testing positive for COVID-19.
David Flitcroft was appointed as the club's first ever director of football in February and Darrell Clarke was signed from Walsall as the club's new manager. It took Clarke eight games to get his first win as Vale manager. Still, this was followed by another two consecutive victories, which left Vale nine points clear of the relegation zone going into April. The winning run continued, and 16 out of a possible 18 points were secured in April, with just a single goal conceded. Clarke released all 15-out-of-contract players at the end of the season and placed a further three contracted players on the transfer-list.
Overview EFL League Two On 7 July 2020, manager John Askey made his first summer signing in 22-year-old striker Devante Rodney, who had been released by Salford City. Two weeks later he brought in versatile right-back Zak Mills, who had been released by Oldham Athletic, in order to provide competition for James Gibbons. Tom Pope began the season with a six match ban after a Twitter post he made in January was judged to have amounted to Antisemitic canard. Askey meanwhile continued to strengthen the squad, bringing in midfielder Danny Whitehead, who had also played under Askey at Macclesfield Town and had just been released from Salford City. The club kit was revealed later that week, the unique “V” patterned home strip having partly designed by Robbie Williams, club owner Carol Shanahan and her son Patrick. Askey looked at a number of players on trial during pre-season, including free agents Dino Visser, Harvey Bradbury, Rhys Lovett, Ethan Beckford and David Fitzpatrick, as well as Nottingham Forest academy player Kieran Hayes. However, the next signing, a fourth and final striker, was Theo Robinson, who had played for the club in 2016. He also signed trialist left-back David Fitzpatrick, another of his former charges at Macclesfield, on a one-year deal. He completed the squad with goalkeeper Dino Visser, who "did everything asked of him" in his trial. However, winger Rhys Browne left the club by mutual consent, citing family reasons; Askey said that "it was a shame because he was doing well". Askey looked to replace him quickly by bringing in Harry McKirdy (free agent) and Ryan McLean (Newcastle Town) on trial and went on to sign McKirdy to a one-year deal.
Vale opened the season with a convincing 2–0 home win over Crawley Town on 12 September, Mark Cullen scoring both of the goals; this extended the club's record of not losing a league opening fixture since 2004. The following week they travelled to St James Park, home of the previous season's play-off finalists, and picked up another 2–0 win, with Tom Conlon scoring a goal and providing the assist for Rodney's first goal for the club. Port Vale met Harrogate Town in a league fixture for the first time on 29 September and the two teams played out a 0–0 draw in a hard-fought game. Askey was nominated for the EFL League Two Manager of the Month award as the team had secured seven points from nine without conceding a goal.
Going into October, Vale were beaten 1–0 at Morecambe after Shaun Brisley gave away a soft penalty with 14 minutes left to play; after the game opposition manager Derek Adams stated that the gameplan had been to stop Luke Joyce getting on the ball and to play on the counterattack. With right-back James Gibbons sidelined with a long-term injury, Askey brought in Leicester City full-back Mitch Clark for his third loan spell at the club. He started at home to Carlisle United on 10 October, a game in which Vale lost 1–0 after Rodney missed a free header and Pope missed a penalty. They got back to winning ways at home to Paul Scholes's Salford City; Scott Brown saved a penalty and Cristian Montaño went on to score the game's only goal with four minutes left to play. However, they fell to a 3–1 defeat at league leaders Cambridge United three days later, with Paul Mullin claiming a hat-trick. A trip to struggling Oldham Athletic followed and Vale claimed all three points from Boundary Park thanks to goals from Nathan Smith and Mitch Clark. They went on to pick up back-to-back wins after coming from a goal down to claim a 2–1 home victory over Cheltenham Town. A brace from Pope on Halloween saw the Vale win at bottom-placed Southend United.
On 14 November, Vale fell to a 4–3 home defeat to Tranmere Rovers; they had been leading 2–0 at half-time but the game changed in the away side's favour after Joyce was sent off on 52 minutes. The game had many talking points besides the sending off, including a goal disallowed for either side, a penalty for either side and the way Vale reacted to going a man down. Three days later Vale would lose 1–0 to Scunthorpe United thanks to a superb strike from Abo Eisa. A third consecutive league defeat followed as Vale failed to hold on to a 0–0 draw at league leaders Newport County after Leon Legge was sent off for picking up two yellow cards; Newport's goal was scored six minutes into injury-time by 41-year-old Kevin Ellison. Second-from-bottom Stevenage seemed like the perfect place to end the losing run, but Vale were beaten 2–1. They finished off the month by losing 3–2 at home to Leyton Orient, conceding the winning goal five minutes from time.
The trip to Bolton Wanderers on 5 December saw an away side on a run of five defeats visit a side on a six-game winning spell. Vale defied the odds to record a 6–3 victory in a game with nine different goalscorers, becoming the first away side to score six goals at the University of Bolton Stadium. The next week Vale outperformed Colchester United but only held on to the lead for seven minutes after allowing the away side to equalise after a lapse in defensive concentration. Another 1–1 home draw with a play-off team followed this time Forest Green Rovers equalising just seven minutes after Vale opened the scoring with an own goal. The team's trip to Walsall's Bescot Stadium started excellently as they led 2–0 at half-time; however, the home side made four changes during the break and equalised after 11 minutes and despite Rodney putting Vale back in front, Walsall went on to win the game 4–3 after Jake Scrimshaw and Dan Scarr completed second half braces. Barrow then inflicted a Boxing day defeat on the side at Vale Park, with former loanee Scott Quigley opening the scoring thanks to an assist from former Vale captain Antony Kay; after the match, Askey admitted that "the wheels have just fallen off" the club's promotion campaign as they slipped to 17th in the table. He named three academy players on the bench at Valley Parade on 29 December, as Vale saw out 2020 with a 0–0 draw with Bradford City.
The new year began with a 4–0 defeat at Mansfield Town thanks to a Jordan Bowery hat-trick and Legge being sent off for the second time of the season; speaking in his post-match interview, Askey alluded to "a lot of strange happenings going", saying that "it’s not a level playing field at the moment". This proved to be Askey's last game in charge and he left the club on 4 January, with coach Danny Pugh stepping in as caretaker manager. Pugh made Conlon the new club captain. Pugh selected a 4–4–2 formation for first game in charge, a 3–0 home win over Grimsby Town that proved to be a stark contrast to their defeat seven days previously. The club then signed Jake Taylor, a 22-year-old midfielder who had impressed on loan from Nottingham Forest the previous season, to a three-and-a-half-year deal. With Pope ruled out injured for the rest of the season, the club also brought in striker Kurtis Guthrie after he secured his release from Bradford City. In order to comply with EFL squad limit rules the club deregistered Harry McKirdy and Theo Robinson so as to make room for the two new signings. Guthrie started on the bench at Forest Green Rovers on 16 January, which ended as a 1–1 draw following a late equalising goal from Rodney. However, two days later, Pugh had to start self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19; his assistants – Frank Sinclair, Billy Paynter and Anthony Griffith took over first-team duties in his absence. They oversaw a 3–1 defeat to Walsall in which Brown played poorly and allowed a weak back-pass to bobble over his foot and into the back of the net. The bad run continued at Scunthorpe, as poor defending allowed a brace from Ryan Loft to condemn Vale to a 2–0 loss; stand-in manager Frank Sinclair said that "it wasn’t good enough, especially the first half". Pugh returned to the touchline in time to oversee a 5–1 victory over bottom-club Southend United, who Pope described as "the worst professional side I have ever seen". On transfer deadline day the club signed 19-year-old centre-back Mustapha Olagunju on loan from Huddersfield Town and 20-year-old striker Will Swan on loan from Nottingham Forest.
The search for a new manager continued into February, with David Flitcroft and John McGreal seen as the two front-runners for the position. The team went on to lose 3–1 at Tranmere, with James Vaughan scoring a brace. Flitcroft was appointed as the club's first-ever director of football on 8 February. Seven days later Darrell Clarke was announced as the club's new manager, with Walsall being paid a compensation fee. His first match in charge was a 1–1 draw at Leyton Orient, in which he was pleased with his team's effort. His first home match was a goalless draw with Stevenage, after which he commented that "Effort and commitment - excellent. But nowhere near good enough for me on the quality". The league leaders, Cambridge, left Burslem with three points after an excellent late strike from Liam O'Neil.