🔗 Share this article

'The prospect of a late surge is arguably more remote than that fabled 5,000-1 title, which logically puts the odds in our favor.' The Austrian veteran is talking about his fresh chapter as boss of Newport County, and the monumental task of averting 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 far more than a winner's medal. {'It contributed to shifting my mindset a little bit ... it proved that the unthinkable can be achievable,' he remarks.

'How Did Fuchs Find Himself Here?'

The natural place to start is: how did Fuchs find himself here? 'That's the aspect of the story that isn't straightforward, wouldn't you say?' he says, erupting in a laugh. This remark acts as the 39-year-old's introductory line and a clear sign of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. Our talk runs in multiple pathways, from playing for Thomas Tuchel and the former Leicester manager to the urgent quest to find a nearby hairdresser.

He opens some correspondence on his desk. Included is a letter from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, along with a couple of professional photographs from that campaign. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, grinning. Another package brings a hoard of old stickers, one from an album commemorating Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club is displayed prominently. 'Stuff like this makes me very content,' he concludes.

A Previous Visit and a Typographical Error

Until returning 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 giantkilling in the FA Cup third round. During that match David Pipe duelled against Fuchs. {'He had the match of his life,' Fuchs says. But when the official sheets came out, an interesting error was discovered. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelt 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 fitting.'

Lessons from Ranieri, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 proved brilliant. A couple of weeks later Leicester brought in Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. The Italian arrived at the club in the heart of a pre-season camp in Austria and his hands-off approach did the trick. {'When you see Claudio you imagine an seasoned professional, so experienced in the game, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s so not,' 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 watched 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 pondered: ‘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 philosophy 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 focused, very eager to prove himself.'

Roots and a Determined Character

Fuchs’s drive 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 good enough,' he discloses. {'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 can not do that.’ I’m going to demonstrate that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my make-up is: I’m pretty stubborn. If I see possibility, I’m going for it.'

Detailed Approach and the Battle for Survival

Fuchs’s assistant, Mark Smith, was born in Newport and formerly ran 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 penetrating defensive lines. Passing accuracy was logged at 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the mid-90s,' he states. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, League Two football, but we want to be different. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to be successful than just hoofing it all the time.'

The general numbers make sobering reading. Newport have secured 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 won a game 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 crucial point. {'We need to be a dominant side at home,' Fuchs stresses. {'It’s just not good enough, not even having a win. We need to create a impenetrable home.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own acknowledgement, Fuchs relishes a challenge. {'What’s so bad with that?' He retired less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, loves being in the middle of the action. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player inside,' he remarks, indicating his chest. {'At training I’m always getting involved in the small-sided games – two pannas already, brilliant! I want us to view each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re working on this as one.'