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'I would say that the likelihood of us reviving our campaign are less than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favor, right?' Christian Fuchs is talking about his recent venture as manager of the Football League's bottom club, and the monumental task of staving off a drop into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the spectrum, though that miraculous title win in 2016 provided him with far more than a champion's gong. {'It contributed to shifting my mindset a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unattainable can be achievable,' he notes.

The Illogical Path to Rodney Parade

The logical place to start is: what brought Fuchs wind up here? 'That's the aspect of the story that isn't straightforward, wouldn't you say?' he states, breaking into a chuckle. It is the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear sign of his engaging character across a wide-ranging conversation. The discussion flows in various tangents, 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. Among it is a message from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, paired with a couple of professional photographs from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he remarks, with a smile. Another package brings a hoard of old Panini stickers, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is given special attention. Things like this genuinely makes me very happy,' he states.

A Previous Visit and a Misspelt Name

Prior to his move back from North Carolina to assume his first job in first-team coaching last month, Fuchs’s most recent encounter to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester suffered a Newport giantkilling in the FA Cup third round. That day David Pipe faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs recalls. But when the lineup cards dropped, an amusing error was discovered. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is hilarious because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something nice.'

Insights from Ranieri, Rodgers and Tuchel

His move to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 proved brilliant. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired Claudio Ranieri and the rest is history. The Italian arrived at the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his hands-off approach produced miracles. {'When you look at Claudio you imagine an elder gentleman, so experienced in the game, maybe a bit traditional, but he’s the complete opposite,' Fuchs explains. {'He just said he was going to watch 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 studied you for a week and I’m not going to change anything.''

Fuchs cherishes insights gained 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 challenge them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our methodology as well. How can you make good players who choose wisely? Back then he was probably in a comparable position to where I am now … very motivated, very keen to prove himself.'

Roots and a Stubborn Nature

Fuchs’s motivation 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 shares. {'There are people who let that defeat 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 not do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and give absolutely everything. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m quite headstrong. If I see promise, I’m doing it.'

Analytical Approach and the Fight 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 data from a recent 2-2 draw, displaying a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit many, many season peaks,' he explains, highlighting ball progression and statistics about penetrating defensive lines. Passing accuracy was recorded at 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he states. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, lower-league football, but we want to be unique. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to find its target than just hoofing it all the time.'

The broader numbers present sobering reading. Newport have won 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 secured three points 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 secured a crucial point. {'We need to be a power at home,' Fuchs emphasizes. {'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 enjoys a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He hung up his boots less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, loves being in the middle of the action. {'I’m a part of the group. I’m still a player at heart,' he states, indicating his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the drills – two megs already, yes! I want us to see each other as a single unit. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re working on this as one.'