The Hammers were thrashed 6-0 by Reading on New Year's Day -- the east London club's worst defeat for three years -- and the third-bottom club are now four points adrift of safety.

"There is no limit on the money available to the manager," Magnusson, whose Icelandic consortium took control of West Ham in November, told Tuesday's London Evening Standard.

"If Alan identifies the targets then we will do our best to sign them, although they must be realistic. We are not a Chelsea in that respect," added Magnusson who last month sacked former manager Alan Pardew -- now in charge at second-bottom Charlton, the club Curbishley left at the end of last season.

But such is West Ham's recent form that Curbishley admitted it would be hard to attract new players, regardless of how much financial backing he had from Magnussson. "People say bring people in, but the last three results might have shot that to pieces.

"When you're in the bottom three, trying to attract new players, it's very difficult," Curbishley added. "Harry Redknapp managed it at Portsmouth and he turned it around. I'm not going to complain about my lot though. I saw the full picture when I decided to come here.

"You have to dig in and do the right things. These players haven't got the experience to sort this out for themselves."

Former Hammers boss Redknapp kept Portsmouth in the Premier League last season, when they seemed destined for relegation at the turn of the year, and now the south coast club are sixth in the table.