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'I reckon that the likelihood of us turning the season around are slimmer than Leicester claiming the Premier League, so they are in our favor, right?' Christian Fuchs is discussing his fresh chapter as manager of the Football League's bottom club, and the daunting task of preventing a fall into non-league football. It is a challenge at the polar opposite of the scale, though that miraculous title win in 2016 gave him much more than a Premier League trophy. {'It contributed to shifting my outlook a little bit ... it showed that the unattainable can be possible,' he states.

The Illogical Path to Rodney Parade

The obvious place to start is: what brought Fuchs end up here? 'That's the aspect of the story that isn't straightforward, wouldn't you say?' he states, breaking into laughter. It is the 39-year-old's introductory line and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a fascinating conversation. Our talk flows in different directions, from working under Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the pressing need to find a barber in the area.

He opens some correspondence on his desk. Included is a message from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, along with a couple of professional photographs from that memorable year. {'Young Fuchs,' he remarks, with a smile. Another delivery brings a stash of old stickers, one from an album celebrating Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A note from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Items like this genuinely makes me very pleased,' he states.

A Past Trip and a Misspelt Name

Prior to returning from North Carolina to assume his first job in frontline management 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. During that match a former full-back faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his life,' Fuchs admits. But when the official sheets dropped, an interesting error was discovered. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs jokes. '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 nice.'

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 brought in Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. The Italian joined the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach worked wonders. {'When you look at Claudio you picture an seasoned professional, so long in the business, maybe a bit old school, but he’s so not,' Fuchs says. {'He just said he was going to watch training in Austria for the first week. He didn’t get involved 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 experiences 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 test them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our approach as well. How can you make good decision-makers? Back then he was probably in a comparable position to where I am now … very driven, very eager to prove himself.'

Background and a Stubborn Mindset

Fuchs’s drive originates in his upbringing 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 capable 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't do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m quite determined. If I see possibility, I’m making it happen.'

Analytical Approach and the Battle for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and formerly ran Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs boots up his laptop to show analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, sharing a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit many, many season peaks,' he explains, highlighting ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he states. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, League Two football, but we want to be unique. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to arrive than just launching it all the time.'

The broader numbers paint sobering reading. Newport have won 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 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 precious point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs says. {'It’s just not satisfactory, not even having a win. We need to create a impenetrable home.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own admission, Fuchs enjoys a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He hung up his boots less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, enjoys being in the thick of things. {'I’m a component of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he states, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the small-sided games – two megs already, yes! I want us to view each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re tackling this as one.'