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'I reckon that the likelihood of us turning the season around are lower than Leicester claiming the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' The Austrian veteran is talking about his fresh chapter as boss of the League Two strugglers, and the monumental task of averting a descent into non-league football. It is a challenge at the polar opposite of the scale, though that fairytale title win in 2016 furnished him much more than a winner's medal. {'It assisted in altering my mindset a little bit ... it proved that the impossible can be attainable,' he states.

'How Did Fuchs End Up Here?'

The logical place to start is: how did Fuchs find himself here? 'I suppose that's the part that's illogical, right?' he states, erupting in a chuckle. This serves as the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a wide-ranging conversation. Discourse travels in various tangents, from working under Thomas Tuchel and the former Leicester manager to the pressing need to find a barber in the area.

He opens some post on his desk. Included is a letter from a Leicester supporter offering encouragement, accompanied by a couple of shiny pictures from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, grinning. Another envelope brings a stash of old Panini stickers, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Items like this genuinely makes me very pleased,' he states.

A Prior Encounter and a Funny Mistake

Until coming back from North Carolina to accept his first job in first-team coaching last month, Fuchs’s last trip to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester endured a Newport cupset in the FA Cup third round. On that occasion a former full-back faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his life,' Fuchs recalls. But when the lineup cards dropped, an amusing error emerged. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs jokes. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' crept in in place of the 'h'. It is hilarious because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something pleasant.'

Insights from Claudio, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 turned out to be inspired. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired Claudio Ranieri and the rest is history. The Italian joined the club in the midst of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach worked wonders. {'When you observe Claudio you envision an older man, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s so not,' Fuchs explains. {'He just said he was going to watch training in Austria for the first week. He stayed out of it at all. After that week we had a meeting and he said: 'I’ve studied you for a week and I’m not going to modify anything.''

Fuchs values lessons learned from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always thought: ‘How can I get more out of the players? How can I test them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a significant part of our approach as well. How can you make good thinkers on the pitch? Back then he was probably in a analogous place to where I am now … very focused, very keen to prove himself.'

Background and a Stubborn Nature

Fuchs’s drive comes from his childhood in Neunkirchen. {'There are comparisons to where we are now, because I was told when I was 11 years old that I would never be good enough,' he discloses. {'There are people who let that defeat them or there are people who say: ‘Fuchs you, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You can not do this, you can't do that.’ I’m going to show that I can and work my socks off. The other thing about my personality is: I’m quite determined. If I see potential, I’m making it happen.'

Analytical Approach and the Fight for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and had been in charge of Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs opens his laptop to show data from a recent 2-2 draw, sharing a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit several season highs,' he points out, highlighting ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was logged at 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he declares. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, lower-league football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher chance to find its target than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers present sobering reading. Newport have won three of 19 league matches and are yet to win in eight in all competitions. By the time of their next home game, they will have not secured three points at home for 273 days and have kept just two clean sheets in 26 matches this season. But a recent last-gasp equaliser with 10 men earned a valuable point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs says. {'It’s just not acceptable, not even having a win. We need to create a stronghold.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so negative with that?' He ended his playing career less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, loves being in the heart of the battle. {'I’m a component of the group. I’m still a player at heart,' he says, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always joining in in the drills – two nutmegs already, get in! I want us to view each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re a collective, we’re working on this as one.'