As manager he won the 1954 FA Cup final with West Bromwich Albion and finished runners-up in the First Division.

After that single season he returned to Tottenham, then playing in the Second Division, where he accumulated 230 matches as a defensive midfielder and later defender before leaving in 1949.

After this, he headed the joint amateur team of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Pegasus, with which he won in 1951 the FA Amateur Cup, defeating Bishop Auckland in the final 2–1 in front of a crowd of 100,000 at Wembley Stadium, playing an "attractive push-and-run style of football where they worked hard for one another, kept it simple and passed the ball quickly".

[2] Between 1951 and 1953, he managed Bradford Park Avenue, then playing in the Third Division North of the Football, reaching upper midtable places.

He became the club's longest-serving post-war manager, almost leading them to the "double" in 1954 when they won the FA Cup, defeating Preston North End 3–2, and finished second in the league.

[5] Buckingham was never thought to be personally involved in the British betting scandal of 1964, which was revealed on 12 April 1964, however the club management alleged in the aftermath, that lax discipline under him may have played a role.

Three of his players at Wednesday – Peter Swan, Tony Kay and David Layne – were accused of taking bribes to fix a match with Ipswich Town on 1 December 1962 and betting on their team to lose, which then lost 2–0.

In later years, Johan Cruijff would speak about Vic Buckingham and Keith Spurgeon:"They were open-minded but, tactically, you have to see where we were at that time.

With 45 goals in 86 matches until 1968, Clarke contributed to the club staying up as long as it did and after relegation he was sold for £150,000, then the record British transfer fee.

There, he won the Spanish Cup, the Copa del Generalísimo of 1970–71, in a 4–3 win after extra time against Valencia in the final.

Amongst the stars of this Barcelona side were Joaquim Rifé, Carles Rexach, Josep Maria Fusté and Juan Manuel Asensi.