Wanderers are lining up a £2 million bid to prise Scotland international midfielder Scot Gemmill away from Nottingham Forest.

After completing the signing of Raith right-back Steve McAnespie, Burnden bosses Roy McFarland and Colin Todd are determined to land a quality midfield replacement for Jason McAteer.

The 24-year-old Forest man has a proven track record in the Premiership and is understood to be one of their top targets for the centre-midfield slot - one of three positions they are still looking to strengthen.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old McAnespie checked in today after completing his £700,000 move and goes straight into a 17-man squad for tomorrow's crucial home clash with Queens Park Rangers. Whether he goes into the starting line-up or gets a place on the subs' bench will depend on how much training he gets in with his new teammates after completing the formalities of his transfer.

Alan Stubbs is also in the squad and could start his first game since being transfer-listed and rested for the Middlesbrough fixture on Sept 9.

Stubbs, still a prized asset despite the transfer turmoil of recent weeks, accepts he could get a hostile reception from the Burnden fans he has upset with some of his comments regarding his desire for a move but he has pleaded with them to put their feelings for the club before their aggravation with him.

Todd, who has coached Stubbs through a fitness problem this week, says he expects the player to get on with his job in a professional manner. "While he's here he will be treated exactly the same as any other player at the football club. His performances up to now this season haven't been what we expect of him because of the standards he sets but we look forward to him returning to the squad." After slipping to second bottom of the Premiership, Wanderers go into the QPR clash anxious to add to their current haul of four points. The pressure is on to gain a victory to ease the tension following the demoralising defeats at Manchester United and Liverpool and Todd says the time has come for the team to make its mark.

"They are all big games and, in that respect, this one is no different than any of the others," he said. "We've had some extremely difficult games but in the eyes of the supporters and in our eyes we've got to get off our backsides and make things happen."

Wanderers (from): Branagan, Bergsson, Phillips, Patterson, Stubbs, Fairclough, Lee, Sneekes, de Freitas, McGinlay, Thompson, McAnespie, Coyle, Green, Taggart, Todd, Davison.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.