{Christian Fuchs: 'I'm Very Headstrong. If I See Promise, I'm Making It Happen'|Former Foxes Defender Christian Fuchs Opens Up on League Two Mission

'I reckon that the odds of us reviving our campaign are less 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 monumental task of staving off a drop into non-league football. It is a challenge at the complete other end of the scale, though that miraculous title win in 2016 furnished him a great deal more than a champion's gong. {'It helped change my outlook a little bit ... it showed that the unthinkable can be achievable,' he remarks.

'How Did Fuchs Wind Up Here?'

The natural place to start is: how did Fuchs find himself here? 'I imagine that's the part that's not logical, right?' he states, erupting in a laugh. This serves as the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear indication of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. The discussion travels in multiple pathways, from playing for the current England boss and the former Leicester manager to the pressing need to find a nearby hairdresser.

He looks at some correspondence on his desk. Included is a letter from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, accompanied by a couple of professional photographs from that memorable year. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, with a smile. Another envelope brings a collection of old stickers, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Things like this genuinely makes me very happy,' he states.

A Prior Encounter and a Misspelt Name

Prior to returning from North Carolina to accept his first job in frontline management last month, Fuchs’s last trip to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester were on the end of a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. During that match the Newport kit man duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his career,' Fuchs says. But when the official sheets dropped, an amusing error emerged. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs remarks. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' found its way in in place of the 'h'. It is hilarious because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something pleasant.'

Experiences from Claudio, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 proved brilliant. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired Claudio Ranieri and an iconic story unfolded. The Italian joined the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach did the trick. {'When you look at Claudio you imagine an seasoned professional, so experienced in the game, maybe a bit old school, but he’s the complete opposite,' Fuchs states. {'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 observed you for a week and I’m not going to alter anything.''

Fuchs values 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 push them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big part of our methodology as well. How can you make good thinkers on the pitch? Back then he was probably in a comparable position to where I am now … very focused, very anxious to prove himself.'

Origins and a Stubborn Nature

Fuchs’s determination stems 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 capable enough,' he shares. {'There are people who let that overcome them or there are people who say: ‘Fuchs you, 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 demonstrate that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my character is: I’m pretty headstrong. If I see promise, I’m going for it.'

Analytical Approach and the Fight for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and had been in charge of Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs fires up his laptop to show analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, presenting a slide he used with his players. {'The team hit many, many season peaks,' he explains, noting ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not happy with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he insists. {'My first game, it was very physical, fourth-tier football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to arrive than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers paint bleak reading. Newport have won 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 force at home,' Fuchs emphasizes. {'It’s just not satisfactory, not even having a win. We need to create a fortress.'

One of the Lads at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs relishes a challenge. {'What’s so wrong with that?' He ended his playing career less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, loves being in the middle of the action. {'I’m a component of the group. I’m still a player at heart,' he remarks, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the boxes – two pannas already, yes! I want us to see each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re striving towards this collectively.'