Former Leicester City Premier League winner Christian Fuchs has been appointed manager of Newport County, the Football League's bottom club. The 39-year-old Austrian acknowledged the scale of the challenge but drew on his experience of the 2016 title triumph. "The odds of us turning the season around are lower than Leicester winning the Premier League, so they are in our favour, right?" he said. "It showed that the impossible can be possible."
Fuchs, who previously visited Rodney Parade when Newport knocked Leicester out of the FA Cup in 2019, admitted his path to management has been unconventional. He learned from managers including Claudio Ranieri, Brendan Rodgers and Thomas Tuchel. Of Ranieri, who kept Leicester up before winning the title, Fuchs said he observed training for a week before saying he would change nothing. "He's so not old school," Fuchs noted. Under Tuchel at Mainz, he recalled the manager's drive to challenge players mentally.
Fuchs's own determination stems from being told at age 11 he would never be good enough. "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,'" he said. "I’m pretty stubborn. If I see potential, I’m doing it." His assistant is Mark Smith, a Newport native who previously ran Fuchs's Fox Soccer Academy. Smith's father has a season ticket behind the dugouts at Rodney Parade.
Since arriving, Fuchs has been heartened by messages from fans, including a Leicester supporter who sent photos from the title-winning season. "Stuff like this makes me very happy," he said.
