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'I would say that the odds of us transforming our fortunes are slimmer than Leicester lifting the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' Christian Fuchs is talking about his recent venture as manager of Newport County, and the immense task of preventing a drop into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the scale, though that miraculous title win in 2016 gave him far more than a champion's gong. {'It contributed to shifting my mindset a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unattainable can be possible,' he remarks.

'How Did Fuchs Wind Up Here?'

The logical place to start is: how did Fuchs find himself here? 'That's the aspect of the story that seems counterintuitive, wouldn't you say?' he comments, erupting in a chuckle. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. Discourse flows in multiple pathways, from playing for the current England boss and the former Leicester manager to the pressing need to find a barber in the area.

He opens some mail on his desk. There is a note from a Leicester supporter offering encouragement, accompanied by a couple of glossy photos from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, with a smile. Another package brings a collection of old Panini stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. Items like this genuinely makes me very happy,' he adds.

A Past Trip and a Typographical Error

Prior to his move back from North Carolina to take on his first job in first-team coaching last month, Fuchs’s most recent encounter to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester were on the end of a Newport giantkilling in the FA Cup third round. During that match the Newport kit man faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his life,' Fuchs admits. But when the lineup cards were released, an curious error emerged. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They got wrong my name – somehow a 'k' crept in in place of the 'h'. It is amusing because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something fitting.'

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 appointed Claudio Ranieri and an iconic story unfolded. The Italian arrived at the club in the heart of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach produced miracles. {'When you observe Claudio you imagine an elder gentleman, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s anything but,' Fuchs explains. {'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 watched you for a week and I’m not going to modify anything.''

Fuchs holds dear lessons learned 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 challenge them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our philosophy as well. How can you make good decision-makers? Back then he was probably in a comparable position to where I am now … very focused, very anxious to prove himself.'

Roots and a Resolute Character

Fuchs’s drive comes from his childhood 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: ‘Fuchs you, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You can't do this, you can not 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 very stubborn. If I see possibility, I’m going for it.'

Detailed Approach and the Struggle for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and previously led 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 many, many season highs,' he explains, noting ball progression and statistics about penetrating defensive lines. Passing accuracy was recorded at 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he states. {'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 percentage to arrive than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers make grim reading. Newport have managed 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 valuable point. {'We need to be a power at home,' Fuchs emphasizes. {'It’s just not acceptable, not even having a win. We need to construct a stronghold.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He retired less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, enjoys being in the middle of the action. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he remarks, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always joining in in the small-sided games – two pannas already, yes! I want us to see each other as one team. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re a collective, we’re striving towards this as one.'