English Leagues - mimimum no of teams?

Does anyone know the minimum number of teams required in the English lower leagues for a game to run correctly?

I intend to fill up the competitions that have reputation levels 3 and 2 (ie. Northern, Isthmian, Southern Premier; some league below these also), but there are still a huge number of leagues with reputation level 1 that normally contain teams. Do I need to fill these?

Sorry, I'm pretty sure this has been answered before but I did a search and couldn't find anything.

Thanks.

i'm pretty sure the limit in lower leagues is 24. unless its scotland then its prob 3

Originally posted by Stanty123:

i'm pretty sure the limit in lower leagues is 24. unless its scotland then its prob 3

Is that 24 teams required in the leagues below Northern Premier, Southern Premier and Isthmian Premier?

I'd like to know because I'm trying to create an English league containing newly created teams that represent each town and city in England. The league in which a team starts will be determined by their city's population. Completely filling all the lower leagues would involve creating an awful lot of clubs and would take a very long time!

its would seems the lower lower leagues actually vary depending on clubs folding, re-appling etc. for example in the 06/07 season the wessex prem had 21 teams, yet this year it has 24 so i'd suggest choosing a number between 20-24 and just using that. if you need any help with what league feeds into what and what teams are where i'd be happy to help

Thanks Stanty123.

I have used the original database to check how many teams are in each of the leagues in FM. Also, I have a fair knowledge of the structure of the Non-League Pyramid.

My main question is, taking this as an example, can I leave the Wessex Premier empty (ie. have no teams in this league)? This would seriously cut down my editing time.

By the way, I have already deleted all the English clubs originally in the database - I hope this will be OK!

i'd imagine in the long the term this league would need clubs, as it could cause probs within its database. but have a crack see what happens. just say what happens

sorry that was meant to say save your database before trying it. but let us know waht happens

OK, I'll fill up the first two levels below Conference North/South and give it a go. However, this may take some time, I'll have to create 100+ teams and, in some cases, do some research on grounds, kit colours, etc.

Although I could take the original database and try removing a few teams to see what happens. That wouldn't take long.

I've just removed a team from the Western League Premier in the original database and tried starting a game. There were no problems, so it seems the number of teams in each of the lower leagues is not set in stone.

I'm now going to add more teams to my towns and cities database and I'll try running it at regular intervals to see if I have enough teams.

Stanty123, sorry I've taken so long to reply to this (although you may well not be bothered now!).

I filled up the first 2 levels of English non-league and the database loaded successfully . I've played through one season and it is working well, although the Premier Division is quite badly skewed, as only a few clubs sign players (all clubs start with no players).

OH, forget to mention: this has been done in FM2007.

Unplayable divisions have no team limit, but some have a minimum number that is required. I assume(I may be wrong) that only 2 levels below the Conference North/South are required to have teams, so as to have enough teams to make the FA Cup function properly.