The exact quote with regards to "wow factor" was that the appointment would "show that Cortese knows what he's doing".
Now yes, this could have been interpreted as a big name appointment coming up. But I think this statement should be taken more at face value.
Cortese has been accused in the past of not knowing what it takes to succeed in football, and you'd think that someone who was naive in what it takes to get promoted from this league would just go for the big name - Zola, Shearer etc - and assume they would succeed.
However, by offering the job to Adkins, Cortese has shown that he knows what it takes to get out of this league. In short, he knows what he's doing.
We've got exactly what we were promised.