‘I’ve asked Jamie Vardy to come and play for me’: CHRISTIAN FUCHS on his ‘toughest challenge’ to save Newport County, the Claudio Ranieri trick he uses and his Leicester City ambition

Christian Fuchs, the Premier League title winner, takes it upon himself to shift a red plastic road barrier off the artificial training pitch then strides back, dropping a plastic cone every few paces, before trotting towards us to grab a handful of bibs.

For a man who played his part in one sporting miracle, such honours count for nothing when there’s another to achieve at the other end of football’s pyramid. It’s all hands to the pump.

The former Leicester City defender and 78-cap Austria international must keep Newport County in the Football League in his first job in management. When Fuchs took charge 11 weeks ago, the club were bottom of the pile.

‘I like a challenge but this, for my first job, is probably the toughest of them all,’ Fuchs tells Daily Mail Sport.

His first port of call was an old friend. He sent a text to Jamie Vardy, his former Leicester team-mate, now plying his trade at Cremonese in Italy. ‘I asked Jamie if he wants to pack his bags,’ grins Fuchs. ‘Of course I did, even though I knew what the answer would be!’

Fuchs has since overseen a couple of wins from his first 12 league games, including the club’s first at Rodney Parade in 289 days, but defeat to fellow strugglers Bristol Rovers at the weekend saw Newport miss the chance to climb out of the bottom two and leaves them three points adrift of safety.

Fuchs takes training as he prepares his players for the battles ahead. Newport are three points from safety in League Two  

The 39-year-old is midway through a training session ahead of that game when Daily Mail Sport arrives at Newport’s training ground at the University of South Wales campus in Treforest set against the rolling hills of Mynydd Eglwysilan high up in the Valleys.

If he is to pull off this escape, he will need to draw on all those he’s learned from along the way: the likes of England boss Thomas Tuchel, who Fuchs solved crosswords with at Mainz, or Claudio Ranieri, or Brendan Rodgers, or Dean Smith, under whom Fuchs worked as a coach after retiring from his playing days at Charlotte in the United States.

‘You take bits and pieces – good things and bad things – but then you adapt it to how you feel is the right way,’ says Fuchs. ‘I don’t want to be a Tuchel, I don’t want to be a Dean Smith, but all of them did something that I appreciated as a player. Everyone has to find their own way. It’s more about off the pitch and how you want to be as a person. The bottom line is always how to deal with people.

‘I have phone numbers. I was just on two phone calls this morning to ask for advice. You should not be shy to pick up the phone.’

It’s clear he’s learned at least one thing from Ranieri. He starts his press conference by shaking hands with everyone in the room, something the Italian did during his triumphant season at Leicester. He has the same playful warmth about him too. By the time we retire to the cafeteria to chat over a coffee, Fuchs knows what’s coming, so much so that he drums a little roll with his fingers on the edge of the table. Why now, why Newport?

As someone who covered Fuchs during his playing days, there was never any mention of coaching. There were the businesses, the clothing line, the Fox Soccer Academy, wanting to be an NFL kicker one day. ‘I never saw myself in this role,’ he says. ‘To be honest, it didn’t entice me at all. Now, I really, really enjoy it.’

He was primed to embrace family life when his friend and assistant Mark Smith, a Newport fan whose dad is a season-ticket holder, invited Fuchs to watch a game at Accrington Stanley. Fuchs was spotted, tongues wagged, owner Huw Jenkins called up Fuchs’s agent and that was that.   

Fuchs quickly had to postpone the family holiday to Disney World. ‘I was really looking forward to spending some time with my family but things change and that’s the name of the game, right?’ And here he is, back at a place he had only visited once before – and that should have bad memories for him: a 2019 giant-killing when Newport dumped Leicester out of the FA Cup. Too add insult to misery, Newport’s kitman David Pipe, a former full-back, played that day and the club misspelled Fuchs on the team sheet with a K instead of an H.

Defeat to fellow strugglers Bristol Rovers at the weekend saw Newport miss the chance to climb out of the bottom two

It’s all a far cry from Fuchs winning the league with Leicester City 10 years ago 

For the first few weeks in the job, Fuchs was on the lookout for a local barber. In the end, after an unsuccessful search, he went back to Leicester for his trim. He doesn’t have to pay for it there. You would be surprised if Fuchs will ever have to pay for anything in the city after what he achieved.

This Friday marks a decade since Fuchs and Leicester went to the Etihad Stadium and dispatched Manchester City 3-1, a result that forced many non-believers to consider the impossible and the first time the 5,000-1 outsiders became the bookies favourites for the title.

And yet just 10 years later, and only five since winning the FA Cup – the medal for which Fuchs has hanging on a wall in his house beside the title winner’s one as ‘two good reminders of what Leicester actually made happen – his old club are in disarray. Twice relegated, staring at a points deduction, and on the search for their fifth permanent manager in 20 months after sacking Marti Cifuentes.

‘It’s tough to see, the points deduction, which will put them right into a relegation battle,’ says Fuchs. ‘I checked the table right away. It hurts because as much as I’m dedicated and committed to what I’m doing here with Newport, I’ll always be a Leicester supporter. I have watched almost every single game since I left. It hurts a lot.’

Leicester were hit with that points deduction on Thursday and it does plunge them into a relegation scrap. But who’s to blame? Much fan fury is directed at long-time director of football Jon Rudkin while some are even calling for Leicester’s owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, known as Khun Top, to sell up. Top, the son of former chairman Vichai who died in the helicopter crash in 2018, spoke to the media for the first time in 10 years last week to reiterate his desire to turn the club’s fortunes around.

‘It’s always hard to talk about when you don’t know all the ins and outs, when you’re not in there, and you can only assume what is happening because you pick up bits and bobs here and there,’ adds Fuchs, who is reluctant to elaborate on either the bits or the bobs.

‘Top has a big, big commitment to the club. I know for a fact he loves the club. As tragic as it was [losing his father], as much as everyone feels for him and it will never be forgotten, because football is so short-living, there’s also no mercy. He’s in charge of the whole empire. That weight is heavy.

‘It’s not only Leicester City, it’s [sister club] OH Leuven, it’s all of King Power. It’s hotel chains, it’s being a big shareholder. And on top of that he has a family. We only see Leicester but the size of the burden that fell on his shoulders, you cannot grasp. I believe he’s doing his best. Do I feel for him? To an extent, yes.’

Fuchs enjoys the party at Jamie Vardy’s house as Leciester City’s title is confirmed  

Fuchs still gets letters from Leicester supporters, ones usually stuffed with glossy pictures of the glory days

In the meantime, Andy King, a fellow title winner, has been placed in interim charge. Fuchs sent him a text right away: ‘You got this’. The members of the 2016 title winners’ WhatsApp group did the same when Fuchs got the Newport job. ‘We’re still watching out for each other.’

It’s a group chat very much still active as the players, so far, have been left to make their own anniversary plans.

Fuchs still gets letters from Leicester supporters, ones usually stuffed with glossy pictures of the glory days. Eight Schalke fans turned up unannounced to the win against Crewe, the club’s first home victory in 289 days, and presented him with a fisherman’s hat. ‘I felt so much love in that moment,’ says Fuchs.

He’s trying to forge the same spirit at Newport. He took his players on a spa retreat recently and set up an obstacle course in the pool. The winner got an extra day off, the loser had to sing in front of the group. Fuchs plans to bring in a magician to entertain the troops.

‘We are a small team, but we are big enough,’ says Fuchs. ‘We were always underestimated with Leicester and given the table it is happening to us right now as well. You know you’re so close to making that change. You feel it, you hear it, you see it.’

Fuchs is only at the start of his coaching career, and has much still to prove, but makes no bones about where he hopes to end up. Would he love to manage Leicester one day? The answer comes immediately. ‘Yes.’  That was quick. Fuchs shrugs. ‘I’m not making secrets.

‘I went through everything with that club that you can imagine and cannot imagine, from the highest highs to the lowest lows. That creates a special bond. I said when I left that you might lose a player but you gain a fan. That’s what I am.

‘Chris Finn [Newport’s head of operations] said to me the other day: “It doesn’t look good for Leicester…they might sack the manager soon. Bye, Christian!” They know how much Leicester means to me. I might need to make it more of a secret but I cannot. It doesn’t take anything away from my loyalty here, the energy and hard work I put in. This club gave me the first opportunity here in the UK to be a manager. So, I am very thankful for that. That has a special place but Leicester is just different.’

Andy King, a fellow title winner, has been placed in interim charge of Leicester. Fuchs sent him a text right away: ‘You got this’ 

Fuchs jokingly picks up his mobile to check whether he’s received any calls from the Leicester hierarchy. One day, perhaps, but first Fuchs has a career to forge

Fuchs jokingly picks up his mobile to check whether he’s received any calls from the Leicester hierarchy. One day, perhaps, but first Fuchs has a career to forge and an unexpected survival to secure. If he is to do so, how would it compare to that miracle 10 years ago? Would it be alongside it?

‘I think that would be a stretch…but it would be very close.’

The bookmakers have Newport at around 9/4 to survive. Not favourites by any means but still a fair bit shorter than the 5,000/1 price offered for Leicester to win the league all those years ago.

Fuchs grins. ‘So, it’s guaranteed, right?’