Bradford City take cheeky swipe at Kevin Nagle ahead of Huddersfield Town clash | OneFootball

The Bantams have already looked to fuel the fire ahead of the upcoming West Yorkshire derby

Bradford City have already looked to fuel the fire ahead of their upcoming West Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield Town, taking a swipe at previous comments from Town owner, Kevin Nagle.

The two sides last met in a league encounter back in March 2007, with the Bantams and the Terriers enduring extremely mixed spells of fortunes respectively in the 18 years which have followed.

However, the local derby is back on the agenda for the current League One campaign following Bradford's dramatic promotion on the final day of last season in League Two, and it is set to be a pulsating encounter at Valley Parade, with both sides starting the season in strong form.

Lee Grant has already sampled two local encounters during the early stages of his reign at the Accu Stadium, with Huddersfield emerging victorious over Doncaster Rovers on August 19th, before his side were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline at Oakwell last weekend in a below-par showing against Barnsley, in which goalkeeper Owen Goodman was also shown his marching orders.

With Bradford looking to send out another early-season statement under Graham Alexander amid a currently unbeaten return to the third-tier, the club have mimicked Nagle's prior comments which followed Grant's appointment, some 10 days before the rivalry is renewed.

Bradford City take Huddersfield Town, Kevin Nagle swipe ahead of upcoming Yorkshire Derby

Nagle settled on Grant as the man to end the Terriers' long-standing search for Michael Duff's permanent successor, with the former Burnley and Manchester United goalkeeper penning a three-year contract in West Yorkshire in the process after a stint as Kieran McKenna's assistant at Ipswich Town.

Following confirmation of the appointment, the American, in an interview with BBC Radio Leeds, declared his reasoning, with one of them being that he understood 'Northern Football'.

"Lee is a guy, he's a visionary, he's a young dynamic coach, he's data driven, he's focused, he understands northern football," Nagle said back in June.

"It's one of the things I mentioned to Lee in our interview," he added. "I was really amazed our fans during our 16-game unbeaten streak (last season), they weren't that excited.

"He said to me before I almost finished the sentence, he said: 'That's because you didn't play northern football.'

"And so, he had a plan and now we're going to execute it."

When asked about his individual definition of the phrase, Nagle claimed: "I think it's much more direct football, it's really more physical football and I think it's more dynamic football."

With the upcoming clash against Huddersfield now less than two weeks away, Bradford confirmed that tickets for the match were now available, taking a swipe at Nagle with the caption of: "Next up at home: Huddersfield Town.

"Secure your ticket now for the battle of Yorkshire Football."

Bradford City will be full of confidence heading into upcoming Huddersfield Town clash

Despite both sides having encounters against Doncaster Rovers and Peterborough United to focus on beforehand, Bradford certainly will not fear one of the division's promotion favourites, especially at Valley Parade.

After suffering defeat at home just twice last season to Doncaster and Tranmere Rovers, the Bantams' impressive run in BD8 has continued into the early weeks of this season, with City claiming some major scalps in the process.

At present, Alexander's side are one of four sides - alongside Cardiff City, Stevenage and the Terriers - to have taken maximum points from their three homes games, defeating Wycombe Wanderers, Luton Town and AFC Wimbledon.

The side currently third in the league after six games also have the third-highest average attendance - 19,638 - meaning the famous stadium is likely to be packed out for the return of a major grudge match in this part of the world.