SCUNTHORPE United have rejected claims they have acted disrespectfully towards Accrington Stanley over the capture of midfielder Jimmy Ryan.

Ryan, 22, penned a two-year deal with the Iron – which can be extended to a third at the club's discretion – on Tuesday, having been identified as one of manager Alan Knill's primary targets ahead of his side's return to League One.

Out of contract this summer, the League Two club will receive compensation for the former Liverpool trainee, as he is under the age of under 24.

But Stanley manager John Coleman claimed hours after the deal was completed that United had made no attempt to try to agree a figure with his side.

It is a claim Iron general manager David Beeby insists is not true.

"We always do our business the right way," he insisted.

"I have had a good relationship with Rob Heys, the chief executive at Accrington, over the last year since we bought Bobby Grant from them.

"We have always tried to keep Accrington in the loop as discussions have gone on.

"We have sent e-mails to both the chief executive and the club president there.

"We contacted Accrington by e-mail to find out what sort of fee they would be asking for Jimmy and we got a reply to that.

"Once we agreed terms with the player this week, I sent another e-mail to Accrington informing them of what had happened.

"We will be contacting them again to try to agree a fee, to avoid having to go to a tribunal.

"That is something the Football League encourage all clubs to do."

Accrington chief Heys is currently in Tanzania with a party to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, in aid of the Football League's official charity Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Clearly unhappy at losing one of his star players, Coleman had said the deal was 'bordering on farcical' with news of Scunthorpe's interest in Ryan first coming to light last week.

"No-one from Scunthorpe has made any official contact with our club, which is very, very disappointing," he said.

"It's not a well-guarded secret that he's (Jimmy) speaking to them, and yet they don't want to get in touch with us.

"It's bordering on farcical and I think it's disrespectful by their club to ours, certainly when their manager has been quite close to myself and Jimmy (his assistant Jimmy Bell) over the years."

While Scunthorpe remain keen to try to settle on a figure with Stanley, it appears likely the deal will go to a tribunal.

In April, when Ryan was linked with Spanish side Real Zaragoza, assistant boss Jimmy Bell was quoted as saying the League Two club would be looking for at least £500,000.

"If it goes to a tribunal I'd think we'd be looking at up to £750,000, certainly in excess of £500,000," he said at the time.