The Trust has been contacted by a significant number of members who have raised the issue of the involvement of a Mr. Paul Garland in the takeover proceedings and the Strang/Bhatia Consortium.

The Trust put these questions to the Strang/Bhatia consortium and have received the following reply via the Official Spokesperson, Sam McEwan.

1. Who is Paul Garland?
2. How much money will Paul Garland be investing in the Club as part of the consortium?
3. Why has his involvement not been made public?
4.Does Paul Garland have any connections with the ex-Spurs footballer Paul Walsh? If so, what are those connections?
5. What role has Paul Garland played in the preparations for the take-over process and in the affairs of the Football Club?
6. Has Paul Garland posted any messages on the Notts County Mad website using an alias?
7.Does Mr. Garland have any previous connections with Geoffrey Richmond?

1) Paul Garland is a business colleague and friend of Raj.He is also a
hard working member of the small background team who have been working to
assist Frank and Raj rescue the Club. Initially Paul had a dual role, he
worked with Billy on player and staff retention and acquisition.He also
worked at identifying and negotiating sponsorship opportunities.Latterly he
worked with Raj to identify more competitive sources of financing.(I
explained the rationale behind this activity in my last Q&A)

2)Paul is not an investor in the club.His comment to the Trust member was a naive
and lame attempt at humour which, although innocent in intent, failed to
take account of the fears and sensitivities of the genuine Notts County
supporters. I know from discussing it with him that it is a comment he very
much regrets making and causing such distress.

3)Very simply because Paul was not a principal in the deal.He was one of a
number of people we have working behind the scenes looking at ways we can
reverse the damage done to the club by the mismanagement of the last two
years.I have detailed some of this work during our meetings.Paul's
connection with the club will end on completion of the deal and he will
return to giving 100% to his other business interests.

4)Paul Garland and Paul Walsh were associates in a business venture some
years ago.I know of no present day connections between the two.

5)I think answer 1 handles this, but if not come back to me.

6)In an attempt to lift the spirits of fans Paul took it upon himself to
post accurate information on a website (I don't know which one).This was
done without the knowledge of the consortium.When it became known to us we
asked Paul to stop this practise.We have communicated very openly with
supporters from day one and we do not feel that this form of communication
is appropriate, we believe strongly in being openly accountable for our
comments.Although, in fairness I believe many supporters found these
website postings to be usful and entertaining.

7)Paul and Geoffrey got to know each other during Geoffrey's time at
Bradford when the company which Paul worked for at the time attempted to
help with finance matters.

I hope this info clarifies the situation. Can I take this opportunity to
further assure your members that while this issue has been a minor
distraction seized upon by a very small number of people in a vain attempt
to talk damage the Strang/Bhatia takeover it has not delayed or distracted
us from the job of securing the future of Notts County.