The club entered the season with Stuart Malcolm as manager, but a poor run of results between December 2020 and April 2021 led to his resignation after seventeen months in charge.

[6] Having amassed 24 points from the 28 matches played prior to the league's suspension, Forfar ended the season with a points-per-game ratio of 0.857, a tally that saw the club finish in ninth position.

Because this date was several weeks after the 1 August opener for the Premiership, the transfer window for Scotland was accordingly altered to run from 14 July to 5 October to accommodate the staggered starts across the SPFL divisions.

The decision was made after to a majority of competing clubs agreed to cancel the tournament in light of the COVID-19 restrictions in place in Scotland, which then forbade crowds from attending outdoor sporting events.

[16] Forfar opened the 2020–21 league season on 17 October with a 0–0 draw at home against Dumbarton, a game which the Daily Record newspaper described as largely "high on effort but low on excitement".

Two second half goals from Allan and Christian Antoniazzi twice brought Forfar level before Montrose's Liam Callaghan struck an injury time winner to seal a 3–2 victory for the visitors.

[19] The team's next league match on 6 November saw the club concede three goals to no reply against newly promoted Cove Rangers, the first of which came just four minutes after kick-off.

[21] This statistic was however remedied in the next match on 28 November away at Peterhead, where midfielder Bobby Barr scored a first-half header to secure Forfar's first victory of the season and lift the club off the bottom of the table.

This cluster of cases resulted in the postponement of Forfar's scheduled away fixture on 4 December against the Cumbernauld club, which due to the mandatory self-isolation rules in place lacked the minimum number of fit players required to play.

[24] The club's final league game of 2020 was a 1–0 home loss to Cove Rangers in what The Press and Journal newspaper described as a "comfortable" win for the Aberdeen visitors.

[27] In late January the suspension was extended until 14 February at the earliest,[28] and following the Scottish Football Association's desire to see a reduced number of COVID-19 cases nationwide before play was resumed, again until at least 1 March.

This decision later criticised by goalkeeper Marc McCallum for putting excessive strain on the semi-professional players of Leagues One and Two, many of whom held second jobs outside of the sport.

With only nine points available from the remaining three games the club were described as "all but relegated" by BBC Sport,[39] and they entered the season's final fixtures having achieved just two victories in nineteen league matches.

Having had Hamish Thomson sent off earlier in the game, Forfar were rescued by defender Roberto Nditi's 94th-minute goal that levelled the scoreline at 2–2 and forced the match into extra time.

[46] Held two weeks later on 16 April, Forfar's fourth round opponents were Premiership side Dundee United at Station Park.

[49] Following a positive COVID-19 test from midfielder Kyle Dalling on 6 October, Forfar forfeited their opening match scheduled that day against Dundee after being unable to guarantee there were no further cases of COVID-19 within the team prior to kick-off.

[50] After a series of negative COVID-19 tests by the other players, with only Dalling and fellow midfielder Christian Antoniazzi entering self-isolation, the club's second League Cup fixture against Premiership side Hibernian went ahead as scheduled one week later on 13 October.

The club's own official match report described the result as a "mildly disappointing 3-3 draw", with goals from Murray Mackintosh and Jordan Allan bringing Forfar level after Brora twice took the lead.