Bristol City’s Timm Klose on swapping McDonald’s for a vegan lifestyle - inspired by Swansea City boss Russell Martin

Bristol City defender Timm Klose says Swansea City manager Russell Martin played a key role in shaping his career after turning vegan.

The 35-year-old was a teammate of the Swansea boss at Norwich City with the two playing alongside each other in the heart of their defence with Martin donning the captains armband.

This time, though, they will be on opposite sides as Klose, just a year younger than the Scotsman, will come up against his former Canaries teammate when the Robins travel to South Wales on Sunday.

Martin may have given Klose the upper hand after revealing his vegan lifestyle to the Switzerland centre-back during their time at Carrow Road.

Asked of his secrets of how he has prolonged his career, Klose said: “When I started to talk to Russell when I came to Norwich, he is vegan.

“I was interested in the whole vegan thing and obviously we watched some documentaries on Netflix about how it is for sportsmen to be vegan and how it can affect your performance.

“The thing is those documentaries have the money from those who make the vegan products. You have to find the right balance so I spoke to people about how it would be if I started to become a vegetarian and how that would affect my recovery and my health.

“I started to do that, I think we’re six years or something like that and I’m feeling quite well, food is a major topic if you’re a professional you have to look after yourself.

“When I was 21, 22 after every game I went straight to McDonald’s, it wasn’t the right thing to do.  You learn from experience and I’ve learned how to treat my body and my body gives me it back and I’m happy with that.”

City are currently on a high after defeating Reading 2-1 at Ashton Gate on Wednesday evening which put them ahead of Sunday’s opponents.

Swansea meanwhile were on the receiving end of a heavy defeat to Stoke City, conceding three goals without a response.

The Swans have won just once in their last five league matches and after some early season promise, they have dropped down the table.

Despite their drop-off in form, Klose seems some similarities between them and Norwich City, when they endured a difficult season before later going on to win the Championship title.

‘I know Russ very well, obviously, we played together at Norwich. He’s a manager and I know his football and how he wants to play it,” he said.

“I respect him very much because I knew him as the captain of Norwich and then obviously I looked up to him and asked him for advice when I came to England.

“He helped me out quite a bit. I think the football they want to play is really good and sometimes that needs time.

“We had the same issue at Norwich, you will have those spells where you might not look very strong but I promise you they have a very good team and know how to play so we need to be ready for that.”