Gross is an utter waste of time.
In terms of how much talent is being invested into the squad being put onto the pitch I'd say it's the most valuable statistic.
Spurs are £30m up on transfers in the last 4 years, NUFC are £30m down? What does thast tell you anbouyt squad quality? NUFC with a £60m bigger hole in their finances on transfers?
Nothing really, it might lead you to assume Newcastle have spent more and so have the better squad.
But knowing Spours have spent £160m gross on their squad and NUFC have spent less than half that tells you far more about the expected qualities of the respective squads.
Why choose 4 years, HF?