🔗 Share this article

'The prospect of a dramatic turnaround is arguably more remote than that fabled 5,000-1 title, which strangely puts the odds in our corner.' Christian Fuchs is talking about his new life as boss of Newport County, and the monumental task of staving off a drop into non-league football. This represents a challenge at the polar opposite of the spectrum, though that miraculous title win in 2016 gave him much more than a winner's medal. {'It contributed to shifting my outlook a little bit ... it showed that the unattainable can be possible,' he states.

The Unlikely Path to Rodney Parade

The logical place to start is: how did Fuchs wind up here? 'I suppose that's the part that's not logical, right?' he states, breaking into a laugh. It is the 39-year-old's initial statement and a clear demonstration of his playful character across a wide-ranging conversation. Our talk runs in different directions, from working under the current England boss and the former Leicester manager to the urgent quest to find a local barber.

He sorts through some mail on his desk. Among it is a letter from a Leicester supporter wishing him well, accompanied by a couple of professional photographs from that season. {'Young Fuchs,' he muses, smiling. Another package brings a hoard of old collector's items, one from an album marking Euro 2016, when he led Austria. A card from the Newport Supporters’ Club has pride of place. Items like this genuinely makes me very content,' he states.

A Previous Visit and a Typographical Error

Prior to returning from North Carolina to take on his first job in senior management last month, Fuchs’s last trip to Rodney Parade was in January 2019, when Leicester endured a Newport giantkilling 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 admits. But when the official sheets dropped, an amusing error was discovered. {'You need to edit this,' Fuchs says with a smile. 'They misspelt my name – somehow a 'k' crept in in place of the 'h'. It is funny because Fuchs, in German, means fox, so it’s something fitting.'

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 came to 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 envision 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 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 cherishes insights gained from Rodgers and Tuchel, under whom he worked while on loan at Mainz. {'He always pondered: ‘How can I get more out of the players? How can I challenge them psychologically?’’ Fuchs says of Tuchel. {'That’s a major part of our approach 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 driven, very eager to prove himself.'

Background and a Stubborn Mindset

Fuchs’s determination stems from his childhood 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 defeat them or there are people who say: ‘Forget 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 show that I can and give absolutely everything. The other thing about my character is: I’m very headstrong. If I see promise, I’m going for it.'

Analytical Approach and the Struggle 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, presenting a slide he presented to his players. {'The team hit numerous season highs,' he points out, highlighting ball progression and statistics about breaking defensive lines. Passing accuracy was shown as 87%. {'Not happy 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 distinct. I think a five-yard pass has a higher probability to find its target than just going long all the time.'

The broader numbers make sobering reading. Newport have managed 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 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 secured a valuable 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 construct a fortress.'

In the Thick of It at Heart

By his own confession, Fuchs likes 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 part of the group. I’m still a player in here,' he remarks, pointing to his chest. {'At training I’m always participating in the small-sided games – two megs already, brilliant! I want us to regard each other as a unified group. Yes, you’re the ones on the field, but we’re all in this together, we’re working on this as one.'