IMO the club always knew they were going to sign players, they just wanted to do everything last minute, as has been the habit especially in January.
The thing is, they should have realised early on, when Liverpool, Man U and Chelsea wasted no time, that this would be a different kind of January.(you need to also consider that the pause due to the World Cup would have allowed rivals to do their homework better)
Our dithering cost us our first choice, but yeah we have to move on and learn from it.