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'I estimate that the likelihood of us reviving our campaign are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' The Austrian veteran is talking about his recent venture as head coach of the Football League's bottom club, and the immense task of staving off a descent into non-league football. This represents a challenge at the complete other end of the scale, though that fairytale title win in 2016 provided him with a great deal more than a Premier League trophy. {'It helped change my mindset a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unthinkable can be achievable,' he remarks.

'How Did Fuchs Wind Up Here?'

The logical place to start is: how did Fuchs end up here? 'That's the part of the story that isn't straightforward, wouldn't you say?' he states, erupting in a chuckle. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear indication of his engaging character across a wide-ranging conversation. Discourse flows in different directions, from being managed by Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the urgent quest to find a local barber.

He opens some correspondence on his desk. There is a message from a Leicester supporter offering encouragement, accompanied by a couple of glossy photos from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, smiling. Another delivery brings a hoard of old stickers, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is given special attention. 'Stuff like this makes me very content,' he concludes.

A Prior Encounter and a Typographical Error

Until his move back from North Carolina to accept his first job in senior management 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 duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs recalls. But when the official sheets came out, an amusing error came to light. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs jokes. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' crept in in place of the 'h'. It is funny because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something fitting.'

Experiences from Claudio, Rodgers and Tuchel

His choice to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 was a masterstroke. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired 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 hands-off approach did the trick. {'When you look at Claudio you envision an elder gentleman, so long in the business, maybe a bit old school, but he’s so not,' Fuchs states. {'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 experiences from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always considered: ‘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 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 Stubborn Character

Fuchs’s drive stems from his early years 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 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 can not do this, you cannot do that.’ I’m going to show that I can and give absolutely everything. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m quite stubborn. If I see possibility, I’m making it happen.'

Analytical 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 analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he used with his players. {'The team hit numerous season highs,' he explains, highlighting ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was logged at 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he declares. {'My first game, it was very physical, fourth-tier football, but we want to be distinct. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to arrive than just launching it all the time.'

The overarching numbers paint bleak reading. Newport have secured 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 secured three points at home for 273 days and have kept just two clean sheets in 26 matches this season. But a recent last-gasp equaliser with 10 men earned a valuable 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 stronghold.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own admission, Fuchs relishes a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He hung up his boots less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, enjoys being in the heart of the battle. {'I’m a part of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he remarks, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the small-sided games – two megs already, get in! 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 tackling this together.'