Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced Jose Mourinho will soon find a solution to Chelsea’s poor form.
Saturday’s home defeat to Bournemouth was an eighth in this season’s Premier League for the reigning champions and brought an abrupt end to a recent improvement in results.
And a report in Monday’s The Times newspaper claimed Mourinho’s job will be under threat if they fail to progress in the Champions League this week, despite a vote of confidence from the board back in October.
Mourinho has clashed regularly with officials this season, one altercation resulting in a stadium ban in November, but Ferguson believes his old rival has recovered his equilibrium and is close to reviving Chelsea’s season.
Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt London event, Ferguson said: “I have been watching Jose [Mourinho] recently and spoken to him a couple of times, and this is the first time he has been confronted with non-success.
“If you look at his whole career there has been nothing but a rise all of the time so for the first time in his life he has had to deal with bad publicity, adversity and that is a challenge for him, but there are signs he is getting back to a balanced level although they lost on Saturday.
“I watched the match on Saturday and they could have won by a few goals, but they lost and then he has still has to face that sort of negative publicity and it is never easy for a manager in present-day football because the media attention is huge.
“Football today is such a big financial industry, the television deal is [worth] billions, there is the press involvement, there is pressure from their own fans, it is a very high risk industry today.
“The sort of average time a manager lasts now is a year throughout the whole country and that is not a big time.
“For Jose, I think all good leaders will eventually find a solution. I think he will find a solution and will get back to normal [but it] is not looking great at the moment.
“But I know the guy and I know the work he has done in football and I can’t see it lasting long, I can’t see it.”
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