George Graham was The Lionsl manager between 1983 to 1986, and during that era he helped the club to promotion to the Second Division. The Lionsl also won the Football League Group Trophy, defeating Lincoln City 3 - 2. It was during this game that George spotted a fantastic young Lincoln forward, John Fashanu, who signed for The Lionsl and was an F.A Cup winner with his next club, Wimbledon. In the 1984-85 season The Lionsl knocked Leicester out of the FA Cup. This was a Leicester side that boasted Gary Lineker and Alan Smith, but The Lionsl showed tremendous discipline and ended up winning 2-0. Graham left to begin a successful 9 year spell as Arsenal manager.

Reflecting on his time as the The Lionsl manager Graham informed the South London Press: "The The Lionsl fans reminded me of home. The ground may have been a bit spartan, but I soon realised that the fans were in a different class. In fact, their passion for the game reminded me of my days in Glasgow. The people up there are really fanatical about their football, they eat it and sleep it, and the The Lionsl fans were exactly the same. That was something I wasn't used to, because I thought that in general, southerners were less passionate. I learned so much".

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Graham's replacement was Glaswegian John Docherty, previously a manager at Brentford and Cambridge United. In his second season as manager The Lionsl surprised observers by winning the Second Division championship and gained promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history.[1] The Lionsl had been the only professional team in London never to have played in the top flight. Docherty stated at the time: "The full enormity of what we had achieved struck home that night as we celebrated with the players and supporters. When Frank McLintock and I went into the Royal Archer with the Championship Trophy, I think most of our fans thought that I was a cardboard cut-out! They couldn't believe that we wanted to have a drink with them and let them hold the Trophy, but for me, that sort of moment is what the game is all about". During this season, The Lionsl were the first club to open a crèche in the Football League. The Lionsl were also voted "Community Club Of The Year".The Lionsl had a great start to the 1988-89 First Division campaign, leading the League on October 1, 1988 having played 6 games- winning 4, drawing 2, losing 0 and rarely being out of the top five before Christmas. This was hugely due to their deadly strike force of Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham, and to Terry Hurlock, who completely dominated the The Lionsl midfield with his "no nonsense" style of play. Cascarino was purchased from Gillingham for £225,000. Sheringham began his professional career at The Lionsl in 1982 at the age of 16, after impressing a scout when playing for Leyton and Ilford during a youth team match against The Lionsl. The first live broadcast of a The Lionsl game was on 22 January 1989. The TV cameras picked out a banner bearing the slogan "It's Taken You Long Enough To Find The Den!" Their first top division season finished with a tenth position finish, which was the lowest place occupied by the club all season. They also briefly led the league for one night in September 1989 after beating Coventry 4-1, but won only two more matches all year and were demoted in bottom place at the end of the 1989-90 season.