Hammers chief to tighten the purse strings

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• More Premier League news club by club

The Upton Park club, who made a profit of just under £4million the previous year, lost more than £20m last season as they fought desperately to avoid relegation.

Then chairman Eggert Magnusson sanctioned the signing of more than £16m worth of players in the January transfer window and more big money signings last summer meant that the wage bill soared to over £44m.

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Half-time hairdryer: Anton Ferdinand scored West Ham's winner against Fulham after a rollicking at the break from Alan Curbishley

The gamble paid off, though, and West Ham somehow managed to avoid the relegation which could have brought the club to its knees.

Now though, Magnusson has gone and Gudmundsson, the second richest man in Iceland after his son, is keen for the club to be more self-financing.

Despite horrendous injury problems, Curbishley has guided the team to a comfortable mid-table position in the Premier League and with some of those injured players ready to return, could go even higher in the second half of the season.

Curbishley has already said that, apart from a possible lone striker signing, he will not be active in this transfer window, although players like long-serving Christian Dailly, wanted by Norwich, and Calum Davenport, could go.

"The problem is that, if we bring players into the club now and everyone gets fit, then we may well end up with too many," said Curbishley.

Anton Ferdinand, who scored West Ham's winner against Fulham on Saturday, believes their London rivals can avoid relegation.

The 2-1 defeat at Upton Park means that Fulham are in dire trouble, second-from-bottom and five points away from safety.

Ferdinand who, together with central defensive partner Matthew Upson, was on the receiving end of Alan Curbishley's own brand of 'hairdryer' treatment at half-time following a sloppy start, has some sympathy for Fulham.

He and his West Ham team-mates were in a similar situation a year ago but managed to pull off the great escape.

"Fulham have just got to keep battling away and keep that heart," said Ferdinand. "When you are down there you do have a lot of setbacks, things don't go for you, but you have to take it on the chin and work even harder."