Rangers defender Olwethu Makhanya has his mum to thank for helping him overcome early career setbacks in his native South Africa

You clearly need raw talent to have any chance of one day standing in a tunnel moments before an Old Firm game.

It also requires determination, sacrifice and a single-minded approach to ensuring you are the best version of yourself. A little good fortune doesn’t go amiss either.

But no player who’s come that far does so without heeding sage words of advice from those who know what’s good for them. No one makes it on their own.

Olwethu Makhanya can attest to the importance of some tough love for players starting out on a road which they hope will eventually lead to days like the one he’ll witness at Ibrox tomorrow.

As a 16-year-old, the South African packed his boots in a bag, left his family home and travelled the country looking for trial games in which to catch the eye of a coach.

Johannesburg, nearly 600km (373 miles) north of his home city of Durban, felt like a city where doors would open. Makhanya found nothing but rejection wherever he went there.

His motivation waning, he picked up the phone and signalled his desire to plough a different furrow in life.

‘That is when I left home for the very first time,’ he explained. ‘I went to Johannesburg looking for better opportunities, but when I got there it was a difficult journey for me.

‘I went to multiple teams trying to get signed and nothing was happening. I ended up calling my mum.

‘She was the first person I spoke to and I told her it was really difficult what I was trying to do and it wasn’t happening. I said I just wanted to come back home, maybe focus on education because maybe football is not for me.

‘She just said, “you told me you were going there so don’t come back until you do it”.

‘I had money to come back home, but I decided to use it to fly to a different city in search of more opportunities because my mum said I had to finish what I started.

‘I ended up flying to Polokwane and that is where I signed my first professional contract at academy level. If it wasn’t for my mum, I don’t think I would still be playing.’

It was there that Makhanya embraced the opportunity he felt had passed him by. In time, he moved from the north-east of the country to the south-west to sign with Stellenbosch FC where he finally gained first-team exposure.

Across a single season, he won the most promising player award in the Nedbank Cup and earned a transfer to Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer.

His three years in the US saw him regularly cross swords with Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba and the like. Not bad for someone who felt they were never going to make it.

With all due respect to the franchises on the other side of the Atlantic, Rangers is just different.

Different in terms of history. Different in terms of the passion of supporters. Different in terms of expectations.

For all its limitations, Scottish football has chewed up and spat out plenty of stellar names down the years. But while Makhanya’s time here is still very much in its infancy, the early signs have been promising.

Physical, quick and comfortable on the ball, the 22-year-old has not looked like a player who needs time to adapt in his first experience of football in Europe.

‘I would say so far, so good. I feel like I’ve been settling in very well,’ he offered.

‘To be honest, before I even came here, I always felt like I can play at this level, at a higher level. I already had the belief that I’d do well.’

While scoring goals is an ongoing concern for Derek McInnes in the absences of Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti, there’s been less to concern the manager about from a defensive point of view lately.

Rangers didn’t keep a single clean sheet in the first five matches of the season. That contributed in no small part to a dire start. But with just one goal lost in the past four matches which each ended in narrow wins, the storm clouds have begun to clear.

A Celtic side which hasn’t missed a beat domestically will certainly offer a stern examination. The significance of this new-look Rangers side standing up to it at this juncture would be hard to overstate.

‘Yeah, it’s going to be very important to stay together,’ the defender added. ‘Even the guys that are not starting, the guys coming in and helping us.

‘I think we showed a lot of togetherness (against St Mirren in midweek) and it’s something that we’ve been working on. We’ve been off the field spending time together, getting to understand one another.

‘So, yeah, it’s going to be very important along the way.’

Only three of 14 summer signings were Scots, with James Penrice the only one likely to start tomorrow’s match. Makhanya is in no doubt that the game’s significance won’t be lost as a result.

‘I think everyone understands what this fixture means, to the club, to the fans, everyone,’ he stressed. ‘It’s going to be a very passionate game and I’m just excited to be part of it.

‘I’m honestly expecting a really, really crazy game from the fans from the first whistle to the last one.’