Tuesday 8 December 2015 06:15, UK
Sir Alex Ferguson says Chelsea would be sacking "one of the best coaches of all time" if they got rid of Jose Mourinho.
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.
That would be a huge mistake, according to the Portuguese's old Manchester United rival, who said: "[Roman Abramovich] has sacked so many coaches in the last 10 years that I am sure he has learned by it. He has to trust and have confidence Jose can turn around.
"There is no point in sacking one of the best coaches of all time, he's won the European Cup twice, he's won the league in each country he's managed in, he's won the big trophies."
He (Abramovich) has to trust and have confidence Jose can turn around. There is no point in sacking one of the best coaches of all time.
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, he said: "I have been watching Jose 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."
