Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal promises that the club will be in even better shape at the start of next season after losing the Championship playoff final.

Sheffield Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal has promised that the club will go into the 2016-17 campaign in better shape than they did in 2015-16.

The Owls were not expected to challenge for the playoffs this season following their 13th-placed finish last term, but they ended up making it all the way to the final at Wembley.

Ultimately their promotion dream fell short as Mohamed Diame's goal handed Hull City a 1-0 victory in the richest match in football this afternoon, but Carvalhal is confident that the club are heading in the right direction.

"We're a strong side, but we start our work in the months ahead to create a stronger side, month-by-month, year-by-year. To say we'll be among the promotion candidates is not a good idea. It's going to be a very difficult task," he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

"At the moment, it's a feeling we'll start next season better than the last one, for sure. We'll be stronger. If we do our job, then that will happen and we'll try to upgrade the team to be better and better.

"But the first achievement again must be about creating a fantastic environment with our fans. They buy a ticket and they enjoy what they're watching. With this, we know we'll be stronger and if we play good football, we can win more times."

Wednesday have not been in the top flight of English football since 2000.