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Supporters may have read a statement on the Barnsley FC official website regarding the club's relationship with BBC Radio Sheffield. In the interests of keeping supporters fully informed, BBC Radio Sheffield has issued the following statement.

"BBC Radio Sheffield is disappointed that it cannot bring commentary of Barnsley FC games to our listeners this season. We have a long tradition of providing a service for Barnsley supporters that for many years no other radio station has been prepared to fund.

"Our listeners can be reassured that we will continue to provide match reports and goal updates from all of Barnsley’s games this season.

"There are two issues here and it would be wrong to link them together.

"The first issue is commentary rights. The commentary deal proposed by Barnsley FC for this season was way in excess of what the BBC was prepared to pay, at a time when we need to deliver value for money for our license fee payers. 

"Barnsley wanted to increase the commentary rights for the season by 150%. The offer made by the BBC was a reduction of last season's figure because we anticipate full match commentary on 25% fewer games this season.

"It is untrue to suggest that our commentary offers to the two Sheffield clubs was 3.5 times larger than the one made to Barnsley and we have asked them to remove this claim from their official website. 

"Following the rejection of our offer for season long commentary rights, we have offered to pay for commentary rights per game at a fee agreed nationally by the BBC and the Football League, but this has been rejected by Barnsley FC.

"We are also disappointed that we cannot interview the team manager and players because general access (such as at press conferences and after matches) is entirely unconnected to whether a media organisation has a commentary deal or not with a particular club. 

"The BBC never pays extra for access to any club for interviews – just like other broadcasters and newspapers. We note that Barnsley FC continue to give access to other media organisations, both broadcast and print, who do not have a commentary deal and indeed may never have had one in the past.

"We are puzzled why our listeners should be penalised in this way, particularly when no other media organisation in the region invests as much in football as BBC Radio Sheffield.

"Other local radio broadcasters are able to negotiate commentary deals – the BBC arrangements are always non-exclusive. None ever did. The BBC has been the only broadcaster to do regular commentary on Barnsley FC for many years.

"We are disappointed that we have failed to reach an agreement but we continue to be in correspondence with Barnsley FC in the hope that this matter can be resolved to the satisfaction of both parties."