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'I would say that the odds of us turning the season around are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' The Austrian veteran is talking about his new life as boss of the Football League's bottom club, and the immense task of averting a descent into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the scale, though that unbelievable title win in 2016 provided him with much more than a Premier League trophy. {'It assisted in altering my perspective a little bit ... it showed that the unattainable can be achievable,' he states.

The Illogical Path to Rodney Parade

The obvious place to start is: what was the journey that led Fuchs wind up here? 'I suppose that's the part that's unpredictable, right?' he states, letting out laughter. It is the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear sign of his engaging character across a wide-ranging conversation. Discourse runs in different directions, from playing for the current England boss and Brendan Rodgers to the immediate requirement to find a nearby hairdresser.

He opens some post on his desk. Included is a note from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, accompanied by a couple of professional photographs from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, grinning. Another delivery brings a collection of old collector's items, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A card from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. 'Stuff like this genuinely makes me very content,' he states.

A Previous Visit and a Funny Mistake

Prior to coming back from North Carolina to assume his first job in first-team coaching last month, Fuchs’s previous visit to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester suffered a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. On that occasion a former full-back competed with Fuchs. {'He had the game of his life,' Fuchs admits. But when the lineup cards came out, an interesting error emerged. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is funny because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something fitting.'

Insights from Claudio, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 turned out to be a masterstroke. A couple of weeks later Leicester brought in Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. The Italian came to the club in the midst of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach did the trick. {'When you see Claudio you envision an older man, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit old school, but he’s anything but,' Fuchs states. {'He just said he was going to monitor 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 change anything.''

Fuchs holds dear experiences from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always considered: ‘How can I get extra out of the players? How can I test them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our approach as well. How can you make good players who choose wisely? Back then he was probably in a analogous place to where I am now … very driven, very keen to prove himself.'

Roots and a Determined Nature

Fuchs’s motivation comes from his upbringing in Neunkirchen. {'There are similarities to where we are now, because I was told when I was 11 years old that I would never be good enough,' he shares. {'There are people who let that overcome them or there are people who say: ‘Watch me, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You can't 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 character is: I’m very stubborn. If I see promise, I’m going for it.'

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 analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he used with his players. {'The team hit many, many season peaks,' he points out, noting ball progression and statistics about penetrating defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not pleased with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he declares. {'My first game, it was very physical, League Two football, but we want to be distinct. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to arrive than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers paint bleak reading. Newport have managed 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 won a game 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 earned a precious point. {'We need to be a power at home,' Fuchs emphasizes. {'It’s just not acceptable, not even having a win. We need to build a impenetrable home.'

One of the Lads 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, likes being in the thick of things. {'I’m a component of the group. I’m still a player in here,' he says, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the boxes – two megs already, yes! I want us to view each other as one team. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re striving towards this as one.'