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'I estimate that the chances of us transforming our fortunes are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favor, right?' The Austrian veteran is discussing his fresh chapter as manager of the Football League's bottom club, 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 of success, though that unbelievable title win in 2016 provided him with far more than a Premier League trophy. {'It helped change my perspective a little bit ... it demonstrated that the impossible can be attainable,' he remarks.

The Unlikely Path to Rodney Parade

The natural place to start is: how did Fuchs end up here? 'I suppose that's the part that's unpredictable, right?' he says, breaking into laughter. It is the 39-year-old's introductory line and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. Discourse flows in different directions, from playing for Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the urgent quest to find a nearby hairdresser.

He looks at some correspondence on his desk. There is a letter from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, accompanied by a couple of shiny pictures from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, smiling. Another delivery brings a hoard of old collector's items, one from an album celebrating Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. Things like this really makes me very happy,' he concludes.

A Past Trip and a Misspelt Name

Prior to returning from North Carolina to take on his first job in frontline management 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 a former full-back duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his career,' Fuchs admits. But when the official sheets were released, an amusing error was discovered. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is funny because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something nice.'

Experiences from Claudio, Rodgers and Tuchel

His move to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 proved inspired. 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 hands-off approach did the trick. {'When you see Claudio you imagine an older man, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit old school, but he’s the complete opposite,' Fuchs says. {'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 alter anything.''

Fuchs holds dear lessons learned from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always thought: ‘How can I get more out of the players? How can I push them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our approach 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 eager to prove himself.'

Origins and a Determined Mindset

Fuchs’s drive stems from his childhood in Neunkirchen. {'There are parallels to where we are now, because I was told when I was 11 years old that I would never be capable enough,' he reveals. {'There are people who let that get the better of them or there are people who say: ‘Watch me, 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 prove that I can and give absolutely everything. The other thing about my personality is: I’m quite headstrong. If I see potential, I’m doing it.'

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 fires up his laptop to show analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit numerous season peaks,' he says, emphasizing ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he states. {'My first game, it was very direct, lower-league football, but we want to be distinct. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to be successful than just launching it all the time.'

The general numbers make bleak 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 injury-time equaliser with 10 men garnered a crucial point. {'We need to be a dominant side at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'It’s just not acceptable, not even having a win. We need to create a stronghold.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own admission, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He ended his playing career less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, enjoys being in the middle of the action. {'I’m a part of the group. I’m still a player in here,' he remarks, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the small-sided games – two megs already, brilliant! I want us to regard each other as one team. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re striving towards this as one.'