MATT Kilgallon is heading to Scotland to find first-team football again.

City's current player of the year is set to leave Valley Parade - with Premiership Hamilton his expected destination.

Kilgallon has not kicked a ball for the Bantams this season and has grown increasingly frustrated at appearing to be frozen out of their plans.

He has been fit and ready to play but has not even made it on to the bench in the opening six games.

Having been overlooked for the captaincy in favour of Josh Wright, Kilgallon last appeared in a City shirt in the pre-season friendly against Sheffield United at Valley Parade six weeks ago.

Kilgallon will complete the move before the window shuts on Friday - clubs in Scotland, like the rest of Europe, can still make permanent signings up to the end of the month.

His departure would potentially free up space on the City wage bill for any possible additions ahead of the loan deadline.

But it will also leave plenty of unanswered questions among fans over how a player who had previously been such a key member of the team has been completely out of the picture under Michael Collins.

The head coach has insisted Kilgallon’s ongoing absence had been a tactical choice as he was “approaching it from a different angle”.

Anthony O’Connor and Ryan McGowan have formed a partnership in the middle of the back four since the Macclesfield game after the fit-again Aussie took over from Nathaniel Knight-Percival.

Collins has said all along that there is no issue with Kilgallon and maintained that the door would be open to be involved again at a later stage.

But the absence of Kilgallon even as a sub has mystified supporters and the defender himself. With no Knight-Percival in the squad against Wycombe last Saturday, the back-up centre half was teenager Reece Staunton.

Kilgallon has made 49 league appearances since joining the Bantams two years ago, although suggestions that another game would have triggered a clause in his contract are thought to be wide of the mark.