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'I would say that the chances of us transforming our fortunes are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' The Austrian veteran is reflecting on his new life as manager of Newport County, and the daunting task of staving off a drop into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the complete other end of the spectrum, though that unbelievable title win in 2016 gave him far more than a Premier League trophy. {'It assisted in altering my perspective a little bit ... it proved that the impossible can be possible,' he states.

'How Did Fuchs End Up Here?'

The obvious place to start is: how did Fuchs end up here? 'That's the aspect of the story that seems counterintuitive, wouldn't you say?' he states, erupting in a laugh. It is the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a fascinating conversation. Our talk travels in various tangents, from being managed by the current England boss and Brendan Rodgers to the immediate requirement 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, accompanied by a couple of professional photographs from that memorable year. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, with a smile. Another package brings a stash of old stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A note from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Items like this genuinely makes me very happy,' he adds.

A Prior Encounter and a Misspelt Name

Prior to coming back from North Carolina to take on his first job in first-team coaching 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. During that match David Pipe competed with Fuchs. {'He had the performance of his career,' Fuchs admits. But when the teamsheets came out, an interesting error emerged. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They misspelt 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 nice.'

Experiences from Ranieri, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 turned out to be brilliant. A couple of weeks later Leicester brought in Claudio Ranieri and the rest is history. The Italian came to the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach did the trick. {'When you see Claudio you picture an seasoned professional, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit traditional, but he’s so not,' Fuchs explains. {'He just said he was going to monitor 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 watched 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 thought: ‘How can I get additional out of the players? How can I push them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our approach as well. How can you make good decision-makers? Back then he was probably in a similar situation to where I am now … very driven, very anxious to prove himself.'

Origins and a Resolute Mindset

Fuchs’s motivation 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: ‘Forget you, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You cannot do this, you cannot do that.’ I’m going to show that I can and give absolutely everything. The other thing about my character is: I’m quite stubborn. If I see possibility, I’m doing 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 opens his laptop to show statistics from a recent 2-2 draw, sharing a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit numerous season peaks,' he points out, emphasizing ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was recorded at 87%. {'Not pleased with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he states. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, fourth-tier football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to find its target than just going long all the time.'

The broader numbers present grim 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 injury-time equaliser with 10 men garnered a precious point. {'We need to be a dominant side at home,' Fuchs says. {'It’s just not good enough, not even having a win. We need to build a impenetrable home.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own admission, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He retired 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 inside,' he says, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the boxes – two nutmegs already, yes! I want us to regard each other as a single unit. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re striving towards this collectively.'