The powerful businessmen who control Melbourne Victory have blocked the sale of a stake in the team to the public in a bid to prevent supporters from interfering in running the A-League's largest club.

Members of Melbourne Victory's board staged a last-minute intervention to prevent hundreds of fans from gaining shareholding rights that would have allowed them to scrutinise the decision-making of the club's senior management.

The move is expected to provoke a backlash among Victory's 22,000 members, who were set to become the first supporters in the A-League to be offered a chance to own a stake in their team.

Melbourne Victory Supporters Association spokesman Bryce Clayton said fans were "really disappointed and confused".

"They thought they were about to get a real voice in the club for the first time, but it's same old story of a sporting organisation that's run by a few wealthy people who get to make all the decisions," he said.