Timm Klose regrets how he handled his Norwich City exit but the popular defender’s love affair with the people and the place burns as strong as ever.

Klose’s five-and-a-half year spell at Carrow Road officially ended at the start of this season, although his final campaign was spent back home in Switzerland at FC Basel.

That came after failing to help keep the Canaries in the top flight during a doomed ‘Project Restart’ period, when he rushed back from injury with Grant Hanley and Christoph Zimmermann sidelined.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to come back for the last 10 games. I’m going to save the club, because I couldn’t save the club the last time we were in the Premier’,” he said. “I felt the need to go out and save the club this time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready at all. My body wasn’t ready for playing three games every week. I paid for it.

“I don’t why but I read some of the negative comments during that Premier League spell from those last 10 games. Obviously they weren’t nice and I took it too personally because I always thought, ‘I gave everything for this club, why are people mean to me if I try my best?’ That was a big mistake on my part.

“We had discussions with Stuart (Webber) and it wasn’t quite the same. It didn’t feel the same. If I look back, I probably would behave differently. Periods like those change you a little bit and you make mistakes. You say the wrong things, even though you don’t mean them, but it just happened. And I’m sorry for that.”