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'The prospect of a dramatic turnaround is arguably a longer shot than that legendary 5,000-1 title, which somehow puts the odds in our favour.' The Austrian veteran is talking about his recent venture as boss of Newport County, and the immense task of staving off a fall into non-league football. It is a challenge at the complete other end of the scale, though that fairytale title win in 2016 furnished him much more than a Premier League trophy. {'It assisted in altering my perspective a little bit ... it demonstrated that the unthinkable can be achievable,' he states.

The Unlikely Path to Rodney Parade

The logical place to start is: what brought Fuchs wind up here? 'I imagine that's the part that's illogical, right?' he states, breaking into a chuckle. This serves as the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear sign of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. Our talk flows in various tangents, from working under Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the pressing need to find a barber in the area.

He sorts through some correspondence on his desk. Included is a letter from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, paired with a couple of professional photographs from that memorable year. {'Young Fuchs,' he says, grinning. Another delivery brings a stash of old collector's items, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he skippered Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. Things like this genuinely makes me very pleased,' he concludes.

A Previous Visit and a Typographical Error

Until his move back from North Carolina to assume his first job in senior management last month, Fuchs’s previous visit to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester suffered a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. On that occasion a former full-back faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his life,' Fuchs recalls. But when the official sheets came out, an interesting error came to light. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs jokes. 'They got wrong 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 fitting.'

Insights 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 appointed Claudio Ranieri and the rest is history. The Italian arrived at the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his hands-off approach produced miracles. {'When you look at Claudio you imagine an seasoned professional, so experienced in the game, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s so not,' Fuchs explains. {'He just said he was going to monitor 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 alter anything.''

Fuchs holds dear experiences from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always pondered: ‘How can I get additional out of the players? How can I test them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our methodology 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 focused, very anxious to prove himself.'

Origins and a Determined Nature

Fuchs’s drive comes from his early years in Neunkirchen. {'There are similarities 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 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 can not do this, you cannot do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m pretty stubborn. If I see promise, I’m making it happen.'

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 statistics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he showed his players. {'The team hit several season bests,' he points out, highlighting ball progression and statistics about getting behind defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not pleased with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he states. {'My first game, it was very direct, lower-league football, but we want to be unique. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to arrive than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers make grim 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 tasted victory 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 power at home,' Fuchs emphasizes. {'It’s just not good enough, not even having a win. We need to build a fortress.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own confession, Fuchs enjoys a challenge. {'What’s so negative 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 part of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he says, indicating his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the drills – two nutmegs already, yes! I want us to view each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re a collective, we’re striving towards this together.'