Reclusive billionaire Bruce Gordon has broken his silence about the South Coast A-League bid and all but ruled out bankrolling a Wollongong team.Gordon, whose personal fortune is estimated at $1.2 billion, has long been touted as the obvious candidate to underwrite a Wollongong A-League team, but has never commented publicly about his intentions. The WIN Corporation owner said yesterday he doubted he would have the chance to privately back an A-league club. The comment means South Coast Football Club, one of five consortia vying for a spot in an expanded A-League team for 2010-11, will have to find another backer to underwrite their bid.Football Federation Australia expects prospective franchises to secure sponsorship and private investors to cover any funding shortfalls. Mr Gordon, who splits his time between Wollongong and Bermuda, said he would provide financial support to a Wollongong-based A-League team "if it happened". "We had lunch with (Sydney FC owner) Frank Lowy and he wanted to have an A-League team in Wollongong and we said we would support that," Mr Gordon said. "We will help out where we can."However, when asked directly if he would bankroll the South Coast A-League bid, Mr Gordon all but ruled out personally funding the franchise. "I don't think we'll have that opportunity in the future ... the South Coast A-League are talking to us all the time but with the changes of ownership in the A-League we'll have to see what happens," he said. Impending changes in club ownership - including the transfer of a controlling stake in Sydney FC from the Lowy family to Russian businessman David Traktovenko and Prime Television owner Paul Ramsay - have made Mr Gordon wary of throwing his hat into the A-League ownership ring. An announcement on the next stage of A-League expansion is expected later this year - South Coast Football Club is competing with bids from Melbourne, western Sydney, Tasmania and Canberra for admission.North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United will become the A-League's first expansion clubs next season.South Coast Football Club chairman Eddy De Gabriele said Mr Gordon's revelation didn't change the club's goal of securing an A-League licence. "WIN Corporation has stated that it will likely sponsor a South Coast A-League team - Mr Gordon repeated it today - and discussions about that are ongoing," De Gabriele said. "We also wish to make it clear, as we have done countless times, that a single investor strategy has never been this consortia approach to funding an A-League club."