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'I reckon that the likelihood of us transforming our fortunes are lower than Leicester claiming the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?' Christian Fuchs is talking about his new life as manager of the Football League's bottom club, and the daunting task of averting a drop into non-league football. This represents a challenge at the polar opposite 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 proved that the unattainable can be achievable,' he states.

The Illogical Path to Rodney Parade

The natural place to start is: what brought Fuchs find himself here? 'I suppose that's the part that's not logical, right?' he states, breaking into laughter. This serves as the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear sign of his charismatic character across a fascinating conversation. Our talk travels in various tangents, from playing for the current England boss and the former Leicester manager to the immediate requirement to find a barber in the area.

He looks at some post on his desk. There is a message from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, along with a couple of professional photographs from that campaign. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, grinning. Another package brings a collection of old stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A note from the Newport Supporters’ Club is given special attention. 'Stuff like this really makes me very pleased,' he adds.

A Past Trip and a Funny Mistake

Prior to his move back from North Carolina to assume his first job in frontline management last month, Fuchs’s previous visit 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 faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his life,' Fuchs says. But when the official sheets came out, an curious error came to light. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelled my name – somehow a 'k' smuggled itself in in place of the 'h'. It is hilarious because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something nice.'

Lessons from Ranieri, Rodgers and Tuchel

His choice to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 turned out to be inspired. A couple of weeks later Leicester brought in Claudio Ranieri and the rest is history. The Italian joined the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach did the trick. {'When you look at Claudio you imagine an older man, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit old school, but he’s so not,' Fuchs says. {'He just said he was going to watch 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 observed you for a week and I’m not going to modify anything.''

Fuchs values lessons learned from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always thought: ‘How can I get additional out of the players? How can I test them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our philosophy as well. How can you make good thinkers on the pitch? Back then he was probably in a similar situation to where I am now … very motivated, very anxious to prove himself.'

Origins and a Resolute Nature

Fuchs’s motivation comes 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 skilled enough,' he shares. {'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 not do this, you cannot 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 pretty headstrong. If I see possibility, I’m going for it.'

Detailed Approach and the Fight 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, sharing 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 recorded at 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he insists. {'My first game, it was very direct, League Two football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to arrive than just launching it all the time.'

The overarching numbers paint sobering reading. Newport have managed 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 valuable 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 construct a stronghold.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own admission, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so negative 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, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always joining in in the drills – two nutmegs already, yes! I want us to see each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re a collective, we’re striving towards this collectively.'