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'I would say that the odds of us reviving our campaign are slimmer than Leicester claiming the Premier League, so they are in our benefit, right?' The Austrian veteran is discussing his recent venture as manager of Newport County, and the monumental task of staving off a drop into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the scale, though that miraculous title win in 2016 furnished him much more than a Premier League trophy. {'It assisted in altering my mindset a little bit ... it showed that the unattainable can be possible,' he notes.

The Surprising Path to Rodney Parade

The obvious place to start is: what brought Fuchs wind up here? 'I guess that's the part that's illogical, right?' he says, letting out laughter. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear sign of his playful character across a wide-ranging conversation. The discussion runs in different directions, from working under Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the urgent quest to find a nearby hairdresser.

He looks at some mail on his desk. Among it is a note from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, along with a couple of shiny pictures from that campaign. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, grinning. Another package brings a hoard of old collector's items, one from an album celebrating Euro 2016, when he skippered Austria. A card from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. Items like this makes me very pleased,' he states.

A Prior Encounter and a Misspelt Name

Until coming 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 were on the end of a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. On that occasion the Newport kit man competed with Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs recalls. But when the teamsheets were released, an amusing error emerged. {'You need to censor this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is amusing because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something nice.'

Experiences from Claudio, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 was a masterstroke. 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 produced miracles. {'When you see Claudio you envision an seasoned professional, so long in the business, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s the complete opposite,' Fuchs says. {'He just said he was going to observe 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 modify anything.''

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

Background and a Determined Nature

Fuchs’s drive originates in his upbringing 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 skilled enough,' he reveals. {'There are people who let that overcome them or there are people who say: ‘Watch me, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You can't do this, you cannot do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and work my socks off. The other thing about my personality is: I’m quite stubborn. If I see possibility, I’m going for it.'

Detailed Approach and the Struggle for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and formerly ran Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs fires up his laptop to show data from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit several season highs,' he says, noting ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was recorded at 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he insists. {'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 probability to find its target than just launching it all the time.'

The general 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 injury-time equaliser with 10 men garnered a precious point. {'We need to be a power at home,' Fuchs emphasizes. {'It’s just not good enough, not even having a win. We need to construct a impenetrable home.'

Still a Player at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He ended his playing career less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, likes being in the middle of the action. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player at heart,' he remarks, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the small-sided games – two pannas already, yes! I want us to view each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re tackling this as one.'