"Well, it would be important for me to know what I'm doing after the middle of November," Southgate told British media.
"I think for everybody because we've got the European under 21 Championship to prepare for and the seniors have got the next round of games to prepare for (in March).
"Everybody is going to want to know by the end of November, middle of December where everything's heading so that we can decide who is responsible for which parts of the organisation's work."
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Spain enjoyed a four-year period of domination between 2008 and 2012, winning the World Cup and back-to-back Euros, and Southgate said that success was down to successful planning.
"I know that all their coaches at senior level right the way through work very closely and there's consistency in how they play in the age groups," he said.
"That's something we aim ... they won with junior teams, they won with senior teams and had another four years of domination and now they’ve got a point to prove again so they will be a very dangerous opponent."
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
