Brisbane Strikers' plan to transform Perry Park remains a pipe dream after the club withdrew its A-League bid.
The club's chief executive Bruce Dinsdale said their bid had well-capitalised and passionate backers but decided against buying in at the eleventh hour.
The Strikers initially issued a statement saying the bid process undermined investor support.
"Many important financial aspects of the expansion process,and the expectations around ongoing criteria,are neither clear nor specific and do not allow for appropriate financial and strategic planning,"he said in a statement.
"The confidence of our investment group in the financial sustainability has therefore been significantly eroded. As such,this group will not commit to funding such a process."
Later on Sunday,Dinsdale withdrew that statement,saying the failure to secure investor support wasn't due to FFA.
An FFA spokesperson said the proof was in the pudding - pointing to the volume of bidders as a sign of support in the process.
"FFA has received 15 EOI registrations representing groups across Australia,many that have been actively working with the FFA and Deloitte and are well advanced in their pursuit of an A-League licence,"a statement said.