Olwethu Makhanya Embraces Old Firm Challenge
Olwethu Makhanya will run out for the biggest game of his life on Sunday, but he knows exactly whose voice dragged him to this point.
Not a manager. Not an agent. His mother’s.
The Rangers defender, a summer signing from Philadelphia Union, has slotted smoothly into Derek McInnes’ back line and helped power a four-game league winning streak with just one goal conceded. Yet a few years ago, the South Africa international was close to walking away from the game altogether.
At 16, he left home for Johannesburg, chasing a contract and a dream that quickly started to fray.
“I went away from home for the first time, tried, but things were not going well,” he recalled. “I called my mum this one day. I told her, ‘I just want to come back, maybe focus on education because maybe football is not for me.’”
That could have been the end of it. Instead, it was the turning point.
“The thing that she told me over the phone was that, ‘You left here telling me that you're going to go play football, so I want you to do that.’ I just had to keep on going until things came true for me.”
That stubborn push from home kept him in the fight. He stayed, earned his chance with Stellenbosch, and from there the path eventually led to Rangers.
“I think my parents, especially my mum, played a really big role in me becoming a professional footballer,” he said. The evidence is now there every weekend in McInnes’ defence.
Backbone of a mean defence
Since arriving in the summer, the 22-year-old has looked composed and assured, a calm presence in a Rangers side that has quietly tightened up. Four league wins on the spin, one goal conceded, and a sense that this group is learning how to grind.
The late midweek victory over St Mirren underlined that edge.
“I think it does highlight the fact that maybe the group is strong mentally,” Makhanya said. “That shows a lot of mentality and character from the boys.
“It's going to be very important to stay together. I think it shows a lot of togetherness and it's something that we've been working on off the field.”
The numbers tell part of the story. The mood inside the dressing room tells the rest. This is a team starting to trust itself under pressure, and Makhanya has quickly become one of the pillars of that resolve.
First taste of the Old Firm storm
Now comes Celtic. A League Cup quarter-final. An Old Firm debut for a young centre-half who has never experienced anything quite like it.
He doesn’t pretend otherwise.
The defender openly admits he has never played in a contest of this magnitude, but there is no hint of fear in his voice, only anticipation.
“I think everyone understands what this fixture means to the club, to the fans and everyone,” he said. “I'm really excited and looking forward to it.
“I just know that it's going to be a very passionate game. I'm honestly expecting a really, really crazy game from the fans.”
That atmosphere can swallow players whole. It can also lift them to a level they didn’t know they had. Makhanya is clear which side of that line he intends to be on.
“We just have to try and do our job and deliver because we know the fans are going to be behind us,” he said. “We're going to use them as an encouragement and also understand that we're also doing it for them. They're going to be very helpful for us.”
From a teenage phone call home in Johannesburg to the noise of an Old Firm night in Glasgow, Makhanya has already shown he won’t turn back when the pressure rises. Now he walks into a derby that will ask, again: how far can that resolve take him?
