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'I reckon that the likelihood of us reviving our campaign are lower than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our benefit, right?' The Austrian veteran is reflecting on his recent venture as head coach of Newport County, and the immense task of staving off a fall into non-league football. It is a challenge at the complete other end 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 mindset a little bit ... it proved that the unattainable can be achievable,' he notes.

'How Did Fuchs Find Himself Here?'

The obvious place to start is: what was the journey that led Fuchs wind up here? 'I suppose that's the part that's not logical, right?' he states, erupting in laughter. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's introductory line and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. Discourse flows in different directions, from being managed by Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the immediate requirement to find a local barber.

He looks at some correspondence on his desk. Included is a letter from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, along with a couple of glossy photos from that campaign. {'Young Fuchs,' he says, with a smile. Another envelope brings a stash of old stickers, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A note from the Newport Supporters’ Club is given special attention. 'Stuff like this genuinely makes me very content,' he concludes.

A Prior Encounter and a Funny Mistake

Prior to returning from North Carolina to assume his first job in frontline management last month, Fuchs’s last trip to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester suffered a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. That day the Newport kit man faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs admits. But when the official sheets came out, an interesting error came to light. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelled my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is hilarious because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something nice.'

Insights from The Tinkerman, Rodgers and Tuchel

His choice to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 turned out to be a masterstroke. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired Claudio Ranieri and the rest is history. The Italian came to the club in the heart of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach worked wonders. {'When you look at Claudio you envision an seasoned professional, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit traditional, but he’s anything but,' Fuchs says. {'He just said he was going to monitor training in Austria for the first week. He remained on the sidelines 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 change 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 challenge them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our methodology 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.'

Roots and a Resolute Mindset

Fuchs’s drive stems from his early years in Neunkirchen. {'There are parallels to where we are now, because I was told when I was 11 years old that I would never be skilled enough,' he shares. {'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 cannot do that.’ I’m going to show that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my personality is: I’m pretty determined. If I see promise, I’m making it happen.'

Analytical Approach and the Struggle 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 data from a recent 2-2 draw, displaying a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit many, many season peaks,' he points out, highlighting ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he states. {'My first game, it was very physical, lower-league football, but we want to be unique. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to find its target than just launching it all the time.'

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

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs enjoys a challenge. {'What’s so wrong with that?' He ended his playing career less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, enjoys being in the heart of the battle. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player in here,' he remarks, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the boxes – two pannas already, get in! I want us to see each other as a single unit. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re tackling this together.'