Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner claims Manchester City have broken the rules in their pursuit of James Milner.
The England midfielder looks poised to end the long-running saga by finally making the move to Eastlands next week.
But Lerner remains unhappy with how big-spending City have gone about their business.
He told the Mail On Sunday: “Big, bad Manchester City came along and asked for Milner and we said, ‘no, he is not for sale’. And under the rules you have to respect that.
“Manchester City respected that for two whole days. And then they violated the rules and came in for him again.
“We are not a selling club. A selling club is when you let it be known that you want to sell a player, through an agent or whatever.
“That didn’t happen with Gareth Barry and it didn’t happen with James Milner either. As for Ashley young, he was never going.”