Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has angrily hit back at suggestions he unsettled West Ham's Scott Parker by making a play for the midfielder.
Hammers chairman David Sullivan levelled the accusation after announcing that Parker, who has three years remaining on his contract, was not available at any price.
The Spurs made a reported $A12 million offer for the 29-year-old, which was rejected outright by Upton Park.
Sullivan then took a swipe at Tottenham through West Ham's official website, calling on the club to cease its attempts to 'unsettle' the English international.
He also told the Mirror he was 'very angry' with Redknapp and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy for making the unwelcome offer.
Redknapp, speaking after Tottenham's 4-1 friendly defeat by Villarreal, slammed Sullivan's remarks.
"Who made it public that we've made an offer?" Redknapp responded.
"You can make an offer for a player if you want to. Someone can make an offer for anybody."
"I'm sure (Levy) must have had some encouragement or he wouldn't have made an offer."
"So I don't think the full story has been told about that one. The chairman wouldn't have made an offer unless he thought there was a chance they wanted to do something."
"As far as I'm concerned Tottenham have acted totally within the rules. Any club is perfectly entitled to make an inquiry about a player from another club."
"This club has behaved correctly. We approached West Ham through the proper channels."
Redknapp has made no secret of his desire to bolster his squad as the Spurs prepare for life in the Champions League, but says there has been no progress in their bids for Parker or Manchester City's Craig Bellamy.
"I like Craig Bellamy but don't know whether they would sell him or what the situation is," he said.
"The chairman deals with all the transfers. He asks me who I want and I tell him."
"But I don't know where he's at with Bellamy, if anywhere. And Scott Parker, I haven't spoken to him today, the chairman, so I don't know."
"Maybe that's completely dead. If West Ham are saying now they don't want to sell him, then that's that."