Rutten leaves Feyenoord, Gio may take over early |

As expected this evening Fred Rutten has left his role as Feyenoord manager with immediate effect reports Ross Anderson.

A meeting was called with Feyenoord’s sporting director Martin van Geel and Rutten resigned after the talks. The 52-year-old former PSV, Twente and Vitesse manager took the decision to leave following his sides failure to reach the Europa League outright after a 3-0 defeat at PEC Zwolle this afternoon.

This result allowed AZ Alkmaar to overtake them in third place on the final day of the season, meaning Feyenoord will have to gain entry into Europe through the play-offs. The defeat in Zwolle was the last straw for club and manager as they both feel a change will be needed in order to navigate their way through the play-offs.

Rutten was already set to leave at the end of the season with assistant Giovanni van Bronckhorst to be in charge next season. We understand Van Bronckhorst will now step up to try and help the Rotterdammers claim a European football place.

Rutten’s side only managed a poor tally of two points from their last five games as they slumped to home defeats to Go Ahead Eagles and Vitesse and away draws with Willem II and Groningen before losing heavily today.

It was ultimately a mixed season in charge of the Rotterdam club for Rutten who never really won the full support of the fans. After a sketchy start to the season where they won only five points from their first six games, which included home defeats to Utrecht and fierce rivals Ajax and found themselves stuck at the wrong end of the table.

The team seemed to find their feet after that and charged up the table into the top three and finished top of their Europa League group with eventual finalists Sevilla. After their title hopes were cruelly dashed in a thrilling 4-3 loss to PSV, they still found a certain consistency in results and looked set for a top three finish before a poor end to the season has cost them.

With Vitesse only managing a draw at home with Utrecht, Feyenoord finished fourth and will play Heerenveen in the play-off before playing either Zwolle or Vitesse in the final should they win.