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'I reckon that the likelihood of us turning the season around are less than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' Christian Fuchs is talking about his recent venture as manager of the League Two strugglers, and the daunting task of averting a fall into non-league football. It is a challenge at the complete other end of the spectrum, though that unbelievable title win in 2016 provided him with a great deal more than a champion's gong. {'It helped change my perspective a little bit ... it proved that the unattainable can be possible,' he states.

'How Did Fuchs End Up Here?'

The obvious place to start is: what brought Fuchs find himself here? 'I suppose that's the part that's not logical, right?' he comments, breaking into a chuckle. This serves as the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear sign of his charismatic character across a wide-ranging conversation. Our talk runs in various tangents, from playing for Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the urgent quest to find a local barber.

He sorts through some correspondence on his desk. There is a letter from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, accompanied by a couple of glossy photos from that memorable year. {'Young Fuchs,' he says, grinning. Another envelope brings a collection of old Panini stickers, one from an album celebrating Euro 2016, when he skippered Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Things like this makes me very content,' he concludes.

A Previous Visit and a Typographical Error

Until coming back 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 were on the end of a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. On that occasion the Newport kit man duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs says. But when the lineup cards were released, an amusing error came to light. {'You need to censor this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They misspelled my name – somehow a 'k' found its way in in place of the 'h'. It is funny because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something pleasant.'

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 brought in Claudio Ranieri and an iconic story unfolded. The Italian joined the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach did the trick. {'When you look at Claudio you imagine an seasoned professional, so long in the business, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s so not,' Fuchs states. {'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 pondered: ‘How can I get extra out of the players? How can I push them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our approach as well. How can you make good thinkers on the pitch? Back then he was probably in a similar situation to where I am now … very focused, very keen to prove himself.'

Roots and a Determined Mindset

Fuchs’s determination comes from his early years 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 skilled 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 can't do this, you can't do that.’ I’m going to demonstrate that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my personality is: I’m pretty headstrong. If I see promise, I’m going for it.'

Analytical Approach and the Battle for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and previously led Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs fires up his laptop to show analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, displaying a slide he presented to his players. {'The team hit many, many season highs,' he points out, noting ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not pleased with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he declares. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, League Two football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher chance to be successful than just launching it all the time.'

The general numbers make sobering reading. Newport have secured 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 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 garnered a precious point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'It’s just not satisfactory, not even having a win. We need to construct a stronghold.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own admission, Fuchs likes 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 middle of the action. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he remarks, indicating his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the drills – two nutmegs already, yes! I want us to regard each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re tackling this as one.'