Vic Buckingham: The ex-Tottenham player’s legacy lives on

Playing Career

Buckingham made his début in 1935 for a side that included the great Bill Nicholson and Arthur Rowe. A somewhat stylish central defender or left wing-half, Vic played 204 times either side of the Second World War, for a Spurs team that resided in England’s second tier.

Although Vic’s humble playing career didn’t etch his name somewhere deep within the chronicles of football, the knowledge he gained during this period would.

A soccer school advertisement from 1947 shows that Vic already had one eye on coaching, even in his playing days. He can be seen teaching kids ‘the sort of tricky stuff the crowd love.’

Buckingham retired the year that Rowe took charge, another visionary from the Tottenham ranks whose name isn’t spoken of enough alongside other great managers of the game. Rowe’s revolutionary Spurs side were the first exponents of a ‘push-and-run’ style that took England by storm, winning them consecutive Second and First Division titles in Rowe’s first attempts.

Buckingham just missed out on the glory. Nonetheless, he benefitted from Rowe’s tenure. Buckingham took a role coaching Spurs juniors and acted as somewhat of an understudy to Rowe.