Football

Clive, do you think Jose is the best manager for Chelsea team only at this period - or going forward? As an outsider, I just wonder about his longevity at a club. Although maybe that really isn't an issue in football anymore.
Cyclical managers are the norm these days, I'd much rather have a trophy winning coach that leaves after 3 or 4 years than one that wins jack all for 8 years on the trot.

I think he is a great manager. Im not actually sure how good of a coach he is but weakness there can be made up for by good backroom staff. He has the total support of the club at Chelsea as he did at Inter but not Madrid - I think this is important for him.
Put it this way, since Jose left our defence was the weakest link for one reason or another. From all the coaches that have come and gone only Hiddink and Ancelotti (in his title winning year) have managed to organise the defence. AVB made a hash out of it, RDM did well under circumstances and Benitez didn't do that bad either. Right now the defence looks as solid as it's ever been with plenty of options should there be any suspensions or injuries. Ivanovich being the most versatile of all our defenders. tl;dr Jose is a very, very good coach with great tactical awareness and organisational skills. He's also a bit of an arse, at least he's our arse.

I think come the other side of the Christmas period, we will see a truer picture of the league.

Between 2000 and 2010 only 5 teams that topped the table at Christmas went on to win it, Chelsea won 3 of them and Man Utd the other 2.