The 1980–81 season was Port Vale's 69th season of football in the Football League, and their third successive season (ninth overall) in the Fourth Division. A difficult season, by February the club were bottom of the Football League. However, they rallied to finish in nineteenth place, thus avoiding a re-election campaign. Advancing to the Third Round of the FA Cup, there they were humiliated by a 3–0 defeat to non-league side Enfield in front of the TV cameras. As usual, they exited the League Cup at the First Round. Despite poor crowd figures and a poor league place, John McGrath had overseen the worst of the club's dire spell, whilst new Chairman Don Ratcliffe stabilized the finances by cutting expenditure. Also the Chamberlain brothers (Mark and Neville) were developing nicely.

The pre-season saw John McGrath sign two news players – Leicester City's John Allen and Stoke City's Trevor Brissett. These newcomers were all the Vale could afford, and Vale ominously failed to win any of their pre-season friendlies. The club also received a £600 fine for the disciplinary record of the previous season (by now an annual occurrence).

The season opened with a 3–0 win over Doncaster Rovers, but then Vale travelled to Roots Hall, where they were beaten 5–1 by Southend United. This defeat was the first of a run of six games in which the "Valiants" picked up just a solitary point. The Vale consistently lost away from home, but turned Vale Park into a fortress with four successive wins in Burslem. Despite this, attendances remained barely above 2,000. Injuries piled up; Gerry Keenan with ligament damage, Steve Jones with a collarbone injury, whereas Paul Bowles played on despite being overweight. The club in the re-election zone, unable to attract fans, and losing £1,000 a week, Arthur MacPherson resigned as Chairman on 2 October, and was replaced by Don Ratcliffe.Mark Chamberlain was then utilized, and scored four goals in his first four games and also created goals for others. Former top-flight winger Johnny Miller then joined the club after his release from Mansfield Town. Miller's crossing ability had not diminished, and he became a key player. Young keeper Mark Harrison in good form, McGrath felt able to sell Trevor Dance to Stafford Rangers for £10,000. Their upturn in form tailed off, and their 4–0 defeat at Plainmoor on 5 November was played in front of a then Torquay United record-low crowd of 1,227 fans. A 1–0 victory over Southend United was the only win in a sequence of fourteen league games.

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