Olwethu Makhanya's Journey to Rangers: From Doubt to Defensive Anchor
Olwethu Makhanya’s route to Rangers’ back line did not run smooth. At 16, alone in Johannesburg and doubting everything, the South African defender was ready to walk away from football. One phone call stopped him.
“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.’”
The answer from home changed his career.
“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.”
From that moment, the path led to Johannesburg, then Stellenbosch, then Philadelphia Union – and now to the heart of Derek McInnes’ defence, where the 22-year-old has quietly become one of Rangers’ most assured performers of the early season.
From doubt to defensive anchor
Makhanya left home as a teenager chasing a contract. It did not come quickly. His mother’s insistence kept him in the fight long enough to earn a deal with Stellenbosch, the platform that eventually took him abroad and into the European game.
Now, in Glasgow, that resilience is showing on the pitch. Since arriving from Philadelphia Union in the summer, the South Africa international has slotted into McInnes’ system with a composure that belies his age.
Rangers head into Sunday’s League Cup quarter-final against Celtic on the back of a four-game league winning streak, with just one goal conceded in that run. Makhanya has been central to that steel.
Their late midweek win over St Mirren felt like another small test of character passed.
“I think it does highlight the fact that maybe the group is strong mentally,” he 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 back up the mood. Four straight league victories, one goal against, a defensive unit beginning to trust itself. The sense is of a group that has started to believe it can grind and suffer when it has to.
Facing the Old Firm cauldron
Now comes something different. Something bigger. Celtic at home, in a cup quarter-final, in front of a fanbase that lives for this fixture.
Makhanya has never played in anything like it.
“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.”
The defender talks about the occasion with a mixture of anticipation and clarity. The noise will be wild. The stakes obvious. The job, in his mind, remains simple.
“We just have to try and do our job and deliver because we know the fans are going to be behind us,” he added. “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 that teenage call home to the brink of his first Old Firm derby, Makhanya has already shown he can handle pressure. On Sunday, in front of a ferocious crowd and against Rangers’ oldest rivals, he finds out how far that mentality can take him.
