In March 2014, Dutch giants Feyenoord Rotterdam announced that Fred Rutten will be their new coach for the 2014/1015 season. He is the successor to Ronald Koeman, who will leave the club after the 2013/2014 season in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Fred Rutten
Fred Rutten (full name: Fredericus Jacobus Rutten) was born on 5th December 1962 in the Dutch town of Wijchen. As a young boy, he played soccer for the amateurs of Alverna Wijchen and it appeared that young Fred had talent. At the age of fifteen, he made the move to FC Twente, a professional club, which plays in the highest professional league in The Netherlands.
Rutten as a player and a coach
Rutten starts his professional career as a soccer player in the 1979/1980 season and after this first match, 306 other soccer games for FC Twente would follow. He also played once in the national team of The Netherlands during a friendly match against Italy. The professional player’s career of the new Feyenoord-coach would last until 1991, when he is forced to quit soccer because of a hip injury.
He wants to stay active in the world of soccer and starts as team leader for FC Twente and becomes assistant-coach in 1993. He would stay assistant until 2000, when he is promoted to head coach at the Enschede-based club. During the 2000/2001, Fred Rutten wins his first price of his coaching-career: FC Twente wins the Dutch KNVB Cup at the expense of Dutch top club PSV Eindhoven.
The Wijchen-born Rutten moves in 2001 to Eindhoven, to become Head of Education at PSV. He would do that job only for one season, because the season after that, he becomes assistant to head coach Guus Hiddink, who gives Rutten a lot of freedom and a lot of training sessions are led by the former player and coach of FC Twente.
He returns to his first club in 2006, where he picks up two jobs: head coach and technical director. Fred Rutten has a slow start at FC Twente, but he is able to get the team up and running and in the next two seasons Twente finishes fourth in the Eredivisie league with an attractive and attacking style of soccer. This draws attention from other clubs, including PSV and Schalke 04 from Germany.
Schalke 04 and PSV Eindhoven
Rutten signs a contract at the German club from Gelsenkirchen, but his time at Schalke is not successful: in March 209 the club from the Bundesliga fires the head coach. However, he is not long without a job, because PSV Eindhoven offers him a contract for three seasons.
During the first two seasons, PSV finishes in third place in the Eredivisie and the head coach get some strong criticism because the team from Eindhoven is not able to qualify for the lucrative UEFA Champions League. At the end of 2011, Rutten announced he would not renew his contract at PSV, because he is looking for a new challenge. After this announcement, the results of PSV are going down and before the end of the season, in March 2012, coach and club decide to terminate the contract.
To the surprise of many, Fred Rutten signed after the 2011/2012 season with Vitesse Arnhem, a clu led by a wealthy owner and strong links to Premier League club Chelsea. Vitesse is not able to make the final step to the top of the Dutch league, although the team played attractive football during the 2012/2013 season. The season is also marked by conflicts between Fred Rutten and owner Merab Jordania and the coach even goes on a sick leave a few days because of a disagreement with Jordania. Nevertheless, Rutten gets a contract extension offer, but he is not interested, since he feels his vision and the vision of the management of Vitesse are too far apart.
Fred Rutten trainer coach of Feyenoord
On 3rd March 3 2014, it was announced that Fred Rutten will start on 1st July 2014 goes as head coach of Feyenoord Rotterdam, succeeding Ronald Koeman .
(Sources: Eredivisievoetbal.com, Wiki)
