🔗 Share this article

'I would say that the likelihood of us turning the season around are slimmer than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favor, right?' The Austrian veteran is discussing his new life as head coach of the League Two strugglers, and the monumental task of preventing a fall into non-league football. This represents a challenge at the polar opposite of the spectrum of success, though that miraculous title win in 2016 provided him with far more than a champion's gong. {'It helped change my mindset a little bit ... it proved that the impossible can be attainable,' he notes.

The Illogical Path to Rodney Parade

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, breaking into 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. Discourse flows in different directions, from working under the current England boss and the former Leicester manager to the urgent quest to find a barber in the area.

He looks at some mail on his desk. There is a letter from a Leicester supporter sending best wishes, along with a couple of shiny pictures from that campaign. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, grinning. Another envelope brings a stash of old Panini stickers, one from an album celebrating Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. Items like this makes me very content,' he states.

A Previous Visit and a Typographical Error

Prior to returning from North Carolina to assume his first job in frontline management last month, Fuchs’s last trip to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester suffered a Newport shock defeat in the FA Cup third round. That day the Newport kit man duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the game of his career,' Fuchs recalls. But when the official sheets dropped, an curious error was discovered. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs jokes. 'They got wrong my name – somehow a 'k' found its way in in place of the 'h'. It is funny because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something fitting.'

Experiences from The Tinkerman, Rodgers and Tuchel

His choice to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 proved brilliant. A couple of weeks later Leicester hired Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. The Italian came to the club in the midst of a pre-season camp in Austria and his observational approach produced miracles. {'When you observe Claudio you picture an elder gentleman, so experienced in the game, maybe a bit traditional, but he’s so not,' Fuchs says. {'He just said he was going to observe 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 watched 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 thought: ‘How can I get extra out of the players? How can I challenge them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a big 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 driven, very anxious to prove himself.'

Roots and a Determined Mindset

Fuchs’s motivation originates in his upbringing 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 good enough,' he reveals. {'There are people who let that get the better of them or there are people who say: ‘Fuchs you, I’m going to show you.’ I’ve been told too many times: ‘You cannot do this, you can not do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and give absolutely everything. The other thing about my personality 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 had been in charge of Fuchs’s Fox Soccer Academy. Fuchs boots up his laptop to show statistics from a recent 2-2 draw, sharing a slide he used with his players. {'The team hit several season peaks,' he says, emphasizing ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was logged at 87%. {'Not pleased with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he declares. {'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 chance to be successful than just going long all the time.'

The general numbers paint grim 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 secured three points at home for 273 days and have kept just two clean sheets in 26 matches this season. But a recent 93rd-minute equaliser with 10 men garnered a precious point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'It’s just not acceptable, not even having a win. We need to construct a stronghold.'

In the Thick of It 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 thick of things. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he states, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the drills – two nutmegs already, yes! I want us to view each other as a single unit. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re working on this together.'