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'I reckon that the chances of us reviving our campaign are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' The Austrian veteran is discussing his new life as boss of the League Two strugglers, and the daunting task of averting a descent into non-league football. Here lies a challenge at the polar opposite of the scale, though that fairytale title win in 2016 provided him with far more than a Premier League trophy. {'It assisted in altering my mindset a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unthinkable can be attainable,' he remarks.

'How Did Fuchs Wind Up Here?'

The obvious place to start is: how did Fuchs wind up here? 'That's the part of the story that seems counterintuitive, wouldn't you say?' he states, letting out a laugh. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's introductory line and a clear sign of his charismatic character across a fascinating conversation. Our talk flows in various tangents, from being managed by Thomas Tuchel and the former Leicester manager to the immediate requirement to find a nearby hairdresser.

He sorts through some mail on his desk. Included is a letter from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, paired with a couple of shiny pictures from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he remarks, with a smile. Another delivery brings a hoard of old stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Things like this genuinely makes me very content,' he adds.

A Prior Encounter and a Funny Mistake

Prior to coming back from North Carolina to take on his first job in first-team coaching last month, Fuchs’s last trip 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 competed with Fuchs. {'He had the match of his career,' Fuchs says. But when the official sheets dropped, an interesting error came to light. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They got wrong 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 pleasant.'

Lessons from Ranieri, Rodgers and Tuchel

His move 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 midst of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach worked wonders. {'When you look at Claudio you picture an seasoned professional, so long in the business, maybe a bit old school, but he’s so not,' Fuchs states. {'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 holds dear experiences from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always considered: ‘How can I get more out of the players? How can I test them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our methodology as well. How can you make good thinkers on the pitch? Back then he was probably in a analogous place to where I am now … very driven, very eager to prove himself.'

Origins and a Resolute Nature

Fuchs’s drive comes from his early years 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 get the better of 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't do that.’ I’m going to show that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m quite stubborn. If I see promise, I’m making it happen.'

Data-Driven Approach and the Struggle for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and previously led Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs fires up his laptop to show statistics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he used with his players. {'The team hit several season highs,' he says, highlighting ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was logged at 87%. {'Not happy 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 be successful than just launching it all the time.'

The overarching numbers paint sobering reading. Newport have managed three of 19 league matches and are yet to win 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 garnered a precious point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs says. {'It’s just not good enough, not even having a win. We need to create a fortress.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own confession, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so negative 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 member of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he says, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the drills – 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 tackling this collectively.'