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'I would say that the likelihood of us turning the season around are slimmer than Leicester claiming the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' The Austrian veteran is discussing his new life as boss of Newport County, and the daunting task of averting a fall into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the spectrum, though that unbelievable title win in 2016 furnished him much more than a champion's gong. {'It contributed to shifting my outlook a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unthinkable can be possible,' he states.

The Surprising Path to Rodney Parade

The natural place to start is: what brought Fuchs wind up here? 'That's the part of the story that seems counterintuitive, wouldn't you say?' he states, breaking into laughter. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's introductory line and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a fascinating conversation. The discussion travels in multiple pathways, from being managed by the current England boss and the former Leicester manager to the urgent quest to find a barber in the area.

He looks at some correspondence on his desk. There is a message from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, paired with a couple of glossy photos from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he remarks, with a smile. Another package brings a stash of old Panini stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A card from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. Things like this genuinely makes me very pleased,' he adds.

A Prior Encounter and a Misspelt Name

Prior to his move back from North Carolina to assume his first job in senior management last month, Fuchs’s most recent encounter to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester were on the end of a Newport cupset in the FA Cup third round. During that match David Pipe duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs says. But when the lineup cards dropped, an amusing error was discovered. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelled 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.'

Lessons from The Tinkerman, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 was inspired. A couple of weeks later Leicester brought in Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. 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 envision an seasoned professional, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s the complete opposite,' Fuchs states. {'He just said he was going to watch training in Austria for the first week. He remained on the sidelines 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 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 extra out of the players? How can I challenge them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our philosophy as well. How can you make good thinkers on the pitch? Back then he was probably in a comparable position to where I am now … very driven, very eager to prove himself.'

Background and a Resolute Mindset

Fuchs’s motivation comes from 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 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 cannot do this, you can't do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and work my socks off. The other thing about my character is: I’m very headstrong. If I see promise, I’m doing it.'

Detailed 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 boots up his laptop to show analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he presented to his players. {'The team hit several season bests,' he points out, highlighting ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he declares. {'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 find its target than just launching it all the time.'

The overarching numbers make grim 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 tasted victory 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 valuable point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'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 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 thick of things. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player at heart,' he says, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the small-sided games – two nutmegs already, brilliant! I want us to regard each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re a collective, we’re working on this as one.'