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'I estimate that the likelihood of us reviving our campaign are slimmer than Leicester lifting the Premier League, so they are in our favor, right?' Christian Fuchs is discussing his new life as head coach of the Football League's bottom club, and the monumental task of preventing a drop into non-league football. This represents a challenge at the complete other end of the spectrum, though that unbelievable title win in 2016 furnished him much more than a champion's gong. {'It assisted in altering my perspective a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unthinkable can be achievable,' he remarks.

The Unlikely Path to Rodney Parade

The logical place to start is: how did Fuchs wind up here? 'I guess that's the part that's not logical, right?' he comments, breaking into a chuckle. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear sign of his engaging character across a wide-ranging conversation. Discourse travels in various tangents, from playing for Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the urgent quest to find a nearby hairdresser.

He sorts through some post on his desk. Among it is a message from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, accompanied by a couple of professional photographs from that memorable year. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, smiling. Another package brings a hoard of old stickers, one from an album celebrating Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A card from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Things like this really makes me very pleased,' he concludes.

A Prior Encounter and a Funny Mistake

Prior to returning from North Carolina to take on 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 cupset in the FA Cup third round. That day the Newport kit man duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his life,' Fuchs recalls. But when the official sheets came out, an curious error emerged. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' found its way in in place of the 'h'. It is hilarious because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something pleasant.'

Experiences from The Tinkerman, Rodgers and Tuchel

His move 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 the rest is history. The Italian arrived at the club in the heart of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach did the trick. {'When you look at Claudio you picture an elder gentleman, so long in the business, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s so not,' Fuchs explains. {'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 observed you for a week and I’m not going to modify anything.''

Fuchs values insights gained from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always pondered: ‘How can I get more out of the players? How can I challenge them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a significant part of our approach as well. How can you make good decision-makers? 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 drive stems from his childhood 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 skilled enough,' he discloses. {'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 can't 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 very determined. If I see possibility, I’m making it happen.'

Data-Driven 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 opens his laptop to show statistics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit numerous season bests,' he says, 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 90-95% range,' he states. {'My first game, it was very physical, lower-league football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to arrive than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers make grim 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 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 crucial point. {'We need to be a power at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'It’s just not acceptable, not even having a win. We need to build a stronghold.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so wrong with that?' He ended his playing career less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, loves being in the heart of the battle. {'I’m a part of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he states, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always joining in in the small-sided games – two megs already, yes! I want us to see each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re striving towards this collectively.'