Clive Palmer said he turned down an offer from FFA chairman Frank Lowy two weeks ago to wind up Gold Coast United and invest $5 million in a new western Sydney club.

Palmer was speaking to ABC AM a day after Football Federation Australia announced its plans to end the franchise.

The flamboyant United owner believes his relationship with Lowy disintegrated because he refused to back the mooted new Western Sydney franchise at the expense of the Skilled Stadium outfit.

"Well I had one telephone call from Frank Lowy two weeks ago when he said would I give him a donation of $5 million for the Western Sydney club and wind up Gold Coast," Palmer said on AM.

"I said no I wouldn't because I was loyal to the Gold Coast. I didn't want to give Mr Lowy $5 million.

"He said that was a very unsatisfactory call. So I can understand that from his perspective but it's not satisfactory for the players or the people that live on the Gold Coast. That's where I'm from."

On Tuesday Lowy called the Gold Coast a failed experiment, but Palmer insists for the size of the area the club plays in it does a comparable job to other sides.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 36 seconds 3 m 36 s Clive Palmer plans action to keep Gold Coast soccer franchise ( Matt Wordsworth ) Download 1.7 MB

"Our attendances pro-rata are far greater than Melbourne Heart. We played the Melbourne Heart down in Melbourne and they had 4,000 people in a city of four million people," Palmer said.

"Our average attendance is about 2,500 in a city of 400,000 people.

"It's got nothing to do with that. It's got everything to do with non-accountability of the top five executives of A-league being paid over $5 million, if you compare that with David Gallop's salary at the NRL."

Palmer also reiterated his stance that he does not plan to stand by and see the Gold Coast United franchise wound up and will take the FFA to court over the matter.

"I don't have a shortage of money. I don't have any debt and I've got plenty of time to contemplate protecting the rights of my company and the people that work here," Palmer added.

"We signed for a five-year deal. We've lost $18 million to date and that's $18 million more than Mr Lowy has ever put into the game."

"Our club is still here. We are very solid. We've got more money than the whole A-league. We've got more money than Mr Lowy's FFA who had to get $8 million out of taxpayers' money only two weeks ago.

"We're not going away. Our club's here."

He also defended his claim that Lowy is too old to be the figurehead of the FFA.

"The retirement age for most people is 65. You've got to wonder why someone in their mid-80s wants to go on," Palmer said. "Or is he, you know, I think he was planning to have the World Cup when he was 95.

"I mean that's beyond the normal expectations of most people at that the twilight of their life. They like to sit back and look at what they've achieved. Certainly he's achieved a lot. I'm sure when he was 20 or 30 he had a very different view of people that were 80 or 85."

Palmer will speak further on the issue when he holds a press conference in Brisbane at 5.00pm AEDT.

ABC