Norwich City Football gained promotion to the top flight at the end of the 1949 – 50 seasons and soon established themselves as a top flight club. Jack Smith was in charge of the club in the early 1950’s as Norwich City Football settled in to the first division. Vic Buckingham took over the managerial post at West Brom in 1953 and the response was immediate, after finishing off the 1952 – 1953 season in an impressive fourth position they finished off the following campaign in second place, narrowly missing out on winning the league title. Buckingham took Norwich City Football to the final of the 1954 FA Cup where they met Presto North End at Wembley and dispatched them winning 3-2. Buckingham remained as the Norwich City Football manager until the year 1959, and in his last two seasons at the club they finished of the campaign in fourth and fifth place and also reached the semi finals of the 1957 FA Cup, suffering defeat against Aston Villa in Birmingham. Gordon Clark took over from the post in 1959 and his debut season in charge at the club saw Albion finish off in a highly impressive forth place, coming close to winning the league title as they were a major force in English football during this time period.