South Of The River

"South London, to fans who came to the game with the advent of the Premier League, probably seems rather similar to, say, East Anglia - not a hotbed, but with one or two clubs who occasionally spend a season or two among the elite before sinking back to their natural level."

It was not always thus. In Episode Twenty Four we revisit Nick Szczepanik's 'South of the River' from Issue Four, published in 2012, which looks back to a time when South London's four clubs - Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Millwall and Wimbledon - were in rude footballing health as Crystal Palace's promotion in 1989 meant all four were in the top flight together for the first time. It's fair to say that the fortunes of two of the area's Championship clubs at the time of writing, Charlton and Crystal Palace, have somewhat diverged since.

Nick Szczepanik is a freelance football writer contributing mainly to the Independent and Independent on Sunday after 15 years with the Times. Twitter: @NickSzczepanik.

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