🔗 Share this article

'I estimate that the odds of us reviving our campaign are lower than Leicester claiming the Premier League, so they are in our benefit, right?' The Austrian veteran is talking about his new life as boss of the League Two strugglers, and the daunting task of staving off a drop into non-league football. It is a challenge at the polar opposite of the spectrum, though that miraculous title win in 2016 gave him far more than a winner's medal. {'It contributed to shifting my outlook a little bit ... it showed that the unthinkable can be possible,' he states.

The Surprising Path to Rodney Parade

The logical place to start is: what brought Fuchs end up here? 'I guess that's the part that's unpredictable, right?' he comments, letting out laughter. It is the 39-year-old's opening gambit and a clear demonstration of his engaging character across a colourful conversation. Our talk travels in multiple pathways, from playing for Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers to the pressing need to find a barber in the area.

He sorts through some post on his desk. Among it is a message from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, paired with a couple of shiny pictures from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he says, smiling. Another package brings a hoard of old Panini stickers, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he captained Austria. A greeting from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. 'Stuff like this really makes me very pleased,' he concludes.

A Past Trip and a Funny Mistake

Prior to returning from North Carolina to assume his first job in frontline management last month, Fuchs’s most recent encounter to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester suffered a Newport cupset in the FA Cup third round. During that match the Newport kit man faced off against Fuchs. {'He had the performance of his career,' Fuchs recalls. But when the official sheets came out, an curious error emerged. {'You need to redact this,' Fuchs says with a smile. '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.'

Insights from The Tinkerman, Rodgers and Tuchel

His decision to join the Foxes in the summer of 2015 turned out to be a masterstroke. A couple of weeks later Leicester brought in Claudio Ranieri and what followed is legendary. The Italian arrived at the club in the middle of a pre-season camp in Austria and his light-touch approach did the trick. {'When you observe Claudio you imagine an older man, so a veteran of the sport, maybe a bit set in his ways, but he’s so not,' Fuchs states. {'He just said he was going to observe 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 change anything.''

Fuchs holds dear insights gained 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 challenge them mentally?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our methodology as well. How can you make good decision-makers? Back then he was probably in a similar situation to where I am now … very focused, very anxious to prove himself.'

Origins and a Stubborn Character

Fuchs’s determination comes from his early years 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 skilled enough,' he discloses. {'There are people who let that defeat 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't do that.’ I’m going to prove that I can and put in the hard yards. The other thing about my personality is: I’m quite determined. If I see promise, I’m doing it.'

Data-Driven Approach and the Battle 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 analytics from a recent 2-2 draw, displaying a slide he presented to his players. {'The team hit many, many season peaks,' he explains, highlighting ball progression and statistics about penetrating defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not satisfied with that … that needs to be in the 90-95% range,' he states. {'My first game, it was very long-ball, fourth-tier football, but we want to be unique. I think a five-yard pass has a higher percentage to arrive than just going long all the time.'

The overarching numbers present grim reading. Newport have managed three of 19 league matches and are without a victory 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 earned a crucial point. {'We need to be a force at home,' Fuchs says. {'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 confession, Fuchs likes a challenge. {'What’s so wrong with that?' He retired less than three years ago and, like Tuchel, likes being in the heart of the battle. {'I’m a member of the group. I’m still a player at heart,' he states, tapping his chest. {'At training I’m always joining in in the drills – two megs already, yes! I want us to regard each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re one team, we’re working on this together.'