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'I reckon that the odds of us turning the season around are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our benefit, right?' Christian Fuchs is reflecting on his recent venture as boss of the League Two strugglers, and the monumental task of staving off a fall into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the spectrum of success, though that fairytale title win in 2016 gave him a great deal more than a Premier League trophy. {'It helped change my perspective a little bit ... it showed that the unthinkable can be achievable,' he notes.

'How Did Fuchs Find Himself Here?'

The logical place to start is: what brought Fuchs find himself here? 'That's the aspect of the story that defies logic, wouldn't you say?' he states, breaking into a chuckle. This serves as the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear demonstration of his playful character across a colourful conversation. Discourse runs in various tangents, from working under Thomas Tuchel and the former Leicester manager to the immediate requirement to find a local barber.

He sorts through some mail on his desk. There is a note from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, paired with a couple of professional photographs from that campaign. {'Young Fuchs,' he remarks, grinning. Another envelope brings a hoard of old Panini stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A note from the Newport Supporters’ Club is given special attention. Items like this really makes me very content,' he adds.

A Prior Encounter and a Typographical Error

Prior to his move back from North Carolina to accept his first job in first-team coaching last month, Fuchs’s most recent encounter to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester endured a Newport giantkilling in the FA Cup third round. On that occasion David Pipe competed with Fuchs. {'He had the performance of his career,' Fuchs says. But when the teamsheets dropped, an amusing error emerged. {'You need to censor this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They got wrong my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is amusing because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something nice.'

Experiences from The Tinkerman, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 proved inspired. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. The Italian came to the club in the heart of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach produced miracles. {'When you look at Claudio you envision an older man, so long in the business, maybe a bit traditional, but he’s the complete opposite,' Fuchs says. {'He just said he was going to observe 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 watched you for a week and I’m not going to alter anything.''

Fuchs values experiences 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 push them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major 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 eager to prove himself.'

Origins and a Determined Character

Fuchs’s motivation comes from his early years 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 reveals. {'There are people who let that get the better of them or there are people who say: ‘Forget you, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You cannot do this, you can not do that.’ I’m going to show that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m pretty stubborn. If I see possibility, I’m making it happen.'

Data-Driven 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 boots up his laptop to show statistics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he used with his players. {'The team hit several season highs,' he points out, noting ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was recorded at 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he states. {'My first game, it was very direct, League Two football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher chance to be successful than just hoofing it all the time.'

The broader numbers make grim reading. Newport have won three of 19 league matches and are without a victory 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 93rd-minute equaliser with 10 men secured a valuable point. {'We need to be a dominant side at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'It’s just not satisfactory, not even having a win. We need to build a stronghold.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own confession, Fuchs enjoys a challenge. {'What’s so negative with that?' He hung up his boots less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, loves being in the thick of things. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player in here,' he says, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the drills – two nutmegs already, yes! I want us to view each other as a single unit. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re striving towards this collectively.'