Gordon Gibb has hit back in a war of words with rival chairman Simon Jordan after the Crystal Palace supremo accused Bradford City of acting "wholly irresponsibly".

Jordan's attack followed the late postponement of Saturday's game between the two sides at the Bradford & Bingley Stadium.

The match was called off four hours before kick-off by referee Eddie Evans.

But Jordan complained: "Last week we were told every day that the game was going to be on, even though we had heard the pitch was in a bad way.

"Then we had a referee who took one look at it and said it was unplayable. Bradford were wholly irresponsible by insisting it was on.

"You can understand them wanting to play it to get the revenue in. But it has backfired on them because they now have to pay our hotel bills.

"It's sheer incompetence on their part."

City chairman Gibb countered: "Simon Jordan is living proof that people shouldn't open up their mouths and let their belly rumble. He should check out all the facts of the matter because it is entirely incorrect what he has said.

"But I'm secretly pleased about his comments which will resonate through the club. I'm sure they will act as a great motivating factor.

"What was always going to be a tight game against Palace will be even tighter. We've now been given even more incentive to go out and give his team a good hiding."

The rescheduled match will take place on Wednesday, February 19 - providing the league agree - after the two clubs yesterday hammered out a compromise.

City agreed to Palace's request to play it next month in exchange for an advance on the next instalment of Matt Clarke's £1.35m transfer fee.

Gibb believes the Bantams have got the better part of the compromise.

He said: "The money from the Clarke transfer was due in March but they have brought forward paying a large chunk of that.

"So while we wanted to play the Palace game sooner rather than later, technically from a financial point of view we are probably better off than having the fixture now.

"The cash we will be getting this month is more than we would have expected from the gate receipts."

Gibb is waiting for a response from Lombards over the Sunwin Stand mortgage repayment. One suggestion he has put forward is to halve the quarterly bills to £175,000 to free up cash-flow for the club.

City's administrators are set to go to Leeds High Court on January 31 to request the administration order on the club is lifted. It usually takes 14 days from the court date.

As confirmed in later editions of yesterday's Telegraph & Argus, City will play their re-arranged game at Grimsby on Saturday, January 25 as both sides are out of the FA Cup.