For me, most of those players, like Wilkinson, were relative unknowns, we signed them hoping they would turn decent, and thankfully some did.
I am also not having the Callum Lang shout, undoubtedly a decent player and doing well down south, but he was largely hopeless for us was he not. Same with Chris Long, 95% of fans were happy to see the back of him.
Nobody had heard of Moult, Tony Watt from memory wasn't a hugely popular addition, poor attitude etc etc, St Johnstone and hearts fans made sure we knew this, folk knew he was a good player, but didn't expect him to be as important as he was.
KVV obviously turned up with the fan fare, from the budget Bergkamp video, but was useless until the first game of the season against Hibs. Devante Cole was another unknown (other than being Andy Cole's son). We will make good additions this summer, rarely does a summer pass that we don't add one or two successes.
I do get what you mean by the whole, we are skint, have to sign dross rhetoric. it feels like every manager we have has the same spiel, whether that comes from the higher up the food chain, who knows, tbf, we wouldn't exactly boast about loaded either though, there is a balance to be had between pleading poverty and having a few quid in the bank and how you approach it.