The 2020–21 season was the first season Harrogate Town played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

following their promotion from the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

in the previous season. They competed in League Two, the fourth tier of English football, alongside the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

, and

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

. The club began the season at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, South Yorkshire, whilst a grass pitch was installed at their traditional

Wetherby Road Wetherby Road, known as the Exercise Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium in Harrogate, England. It is mostly used for football matches, being the home ground of Harrogate Town A.F.C. The stadium has a capacity of ...

stadium in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

, North Yorkshire.

Background

The 2019–20 season saw Harrogate Town finish second in the

, and thus qualified for the play-offs. They defeated Boreham Wood 1–0 in the semi-final, before a 3–1 victory over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

secured Harrogate's promotion to the

for the first time in their history. Since the EFL require all matches to be played on grass pitches, the club played all their home matches for the first month of the season at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

whilst the club replaced their synthetic pitch at

. At the end of June 2020, defenders Maxim Kouogun, George Smith and Matty Taylor were all released following the expiry of their contracts, whilst the contract of midfielder Sam Jones was terminated with immediate effect.

Transfers

Transfers in

Loans in

Loans out

Transfers out

Friendly matches

Competitions

League Two

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

The League Two fixtures were announced on 21 August 2020, with Harrogate's first fixture being away to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

FA Cup

The draw for the first round was made on 26 October. The second round draw was revealed on Monday, 9 November by

Danny Cowley Danny Cowley (born 22 October 1978) is an English professional football coach who is currently head coach of Colchester United. As a player he played at semi-professional level as a midfielder, although he was in the academy at Premier League ...

EFL Cup

The first round draw was made live on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

on 18 August 2020, with Harrogate being drawn away to fellow League Two side

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

, with the match set to be played on 5 September 2020. The draw for both the second and third round were confirmed on September 6, live on

Phil Babb Philip Andrew Babb (born 30 November 1970) is a sports television pundit and former professional football player and manager. As a player he was a central defender who made over 370 league appearances during his career, most notably spending s ...

EFL Trophy

The regional group stage draw was confirmed on 18 August.

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:''Last updated 9 May 2021.'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Goalkeepers , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Defenders , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Midfielders , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Forwards

Top scorers

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total goals are equal. :''Last updated 9 May 2021.''

Cleansheets

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total cleansheets are equal. :''Last updated 9 May 2021.''

Disciplinary record

Includes all competitive matches. :''Last updated 9 May 2021.''

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Harrogate Town A.F.C. season Harrogate Town A.F.C. seasons Harrogate Town