Despite the invariable lack of live football on the BBC nowadays, the service they’re providing for us humble football fans online has grown into something special this season.

I was just browsing through the Leeds United section on BBC Sport and found a nice little audio clip from Simon Grayson’s interview with Radio Leeds included in the reaction page to yesterdays win.

The clip from Simon Grayson on BBC Radio Leeds is just the start of the BBC’s extended coverage this season. The Football League Show and Match of the Day are available on the brilliant BBC iPlayer which is undoubtedly the best addition to the BBC’s service in many years, whilst the goals from previous league fixtures are available on the site too. Here you can see the Jermaine Beckford brace that secured us three points against Exeter City on the opening day this season.

The BBC also continues to help those that can’t get to matches by publishing a live feed on their site with details of what’s going on. Add that to the news, stats and 606 features and the BBC have to be applauded for their efforts.

I know a lot of you think the license fee is unreasonable, and perhaps it is? £142.50 a year is a lot of money for a couple of TV channels, but when you consider everything else they’re spending it on these days I think they’re doing a good job. Sky Sports were the ones that made football more expensive when they came in and threw money at the game to capture the monopoly. On a much tighter budget that has to be spread across many services, the BBC has really delivered the goods in spite of Sky’s financial might and continued reign.

The BBC should be congratulated for the service they deliver to the millions of football fans across this nation. They take a lot of stick when they get something wrong but are rarely praised for the things they get right.