Olwethu Makhanya is beginning to look like precisely the kind of defensive signing Rangers needed to make during the summer.
He is a commanding presence at the back, an ambitious young player whose stock is rising and a natural leader with plenty of personality.
If it did not seem increasingly likely that a club will soon offer the Ibrox board the chance to make a substantial profit on the £3million spent to sign the 22-year-old from Philadelphia Union, he would already look like a future Rangers captain.
Makhanya is helping establish the standards Rangers need if they are to overhaul arch-rivals Celtic in the title race. His reaction after rescuing an undeserved point with a late equaliser at Tynecastle on Wednesday was absolutely justified. He criticised the team’s lack of character at the beginning of the second half and pointed out that Hearts had worked harder and shown greater desire.
That kind of honesty is something many Rangers teams in recent years have desperately lacked. It was a public challenge to underperforming team-mates, a footballing kick up the backside and a reassuring sign for frustrated supporters that at least one player in the dressing room shares their feelings and ambitions.
That is why it would be unfortunate if manager Derek McInnes’ comments the following morning were intended as a subtle reprimand for the South African.
Olwethu Makhanya questioned the character shown by Rangers in midweek
McInnes is, of course, entitled to his own assessment of the character within his squad. Perhaps he genuinely disagreed with Makhanya’s account or with the defender’s doubts about the team’s resilience.
Respectfully expressed differences of opinion are healthy. They can even be a sign of a strong working environment.
However, the manager’s response seemed to edge uncomfortably close to a rebuke of the imposing centre-back’s remarks.
Whether that was the intention or not, publicly criticising a player whose words clearly come from the right place — a fierce desire to restore success to a club that has won only one league title in 15 years — does not necessarily feel like the right approach.
A similar situation arose during Philippe Clement’s first season in charge, when Dujon Sterling spoke out after an April collapse that included a home draw with Celtic, a 3-2 defeat at Ross County and a stalemate at Dundee, results that effectively ended Rangers’ title hopes.
‘We owe ourselves a performance… because we have been s**t the past three games,’ Sterling said after the match at Dens Park. ‘We are fighting for a title and the way we are playing, it is as if we are not playing for anything. It’s like the season is dead and it is a dead-rubber game.’
It sounded like a heartfelt appeal to his team-mates to revive a campaign that was slipping away. It was an uncomfortable truth, but one that needed to be spoken.
Clement, by contrast, was already losing touch with the mood around the club. He described Rangers as ‘moral winners’ after they snatched a late draw against Celtic and then claimed he was pleased that his side had ‘bossed it’ at Dundee.
His criticism of Sterling only reinforced the impression that he did not understand the situation or appreciate what it means to be at Rangers — a club where winning is the only acceptable outcome.
‘It’s the words of a player who is disappointed because we lost points and maybe lacks a bit of experience in that way,’ the Belgian said. ‘That’s things for young players to learn and become better in. It’s more talking out of frustration.’
Derek McInnes disagreed with Makhanya’s assessment after the draw with Hearts
That is the standard response from many people in football. For years, young players have been conditioned to say as little as possible, deliver lifeless interviews, avoid controversy and suppress their personalities. The message is always the same: do not get too high or too low.
But that approach is misguided. McInnes developed in a Nine-In-A-Row Rangers dressing room packed with strong personalities — players who formed powerful bonds while also challenging one another, demanding more and confronting problems directly.
Much of that may have happened behind closed doors, but the football environment has changed dramatically in the past 30 years. Social media has transformed the landscape, fan opinion influences boardroom decisions and that has arguably been more obvious at Ibrox recently than almost anywhere else.
A significant section of the Rangers support still fears that a deeply rooted losing mentality exists at the club, and there is enough evidence to explain that concern.
The playing squad has changed considerably since then, but it is impossible to ignore Billy Dodds’ assessment of his time as a first-team coach under interim manager Barry Ferguson. He said 70 per cent of the signings had been mistakes and that the dressing room contained weak characters unable to cope with adversity.
Before Danny Rohl left for Red Bull Salzburg last season, he also accused some players of being ‘too lazy to recover’ in crucial moments. He added that several members of the squad had been ‘very quiet’ when he first arrived.
After enduring more than a decade of failure and internal excuses, Rangers supporters need proof that the players on the pitch care as deeply as they do.
Makhanya’s frank assessment — delivered calmly and thoughtfully, it should be stressed — should not automatically be treated as a negative simply because many in football have been trained to see it that way.
If anything, players showing genuine emotion and conviction can strengthen the bond between supporters and the team during difficult periods.
Modern audiences have had enough of struggling players promising to learn lessons and move forward. At a club judged by league titles and expected to win every week, learning lessons should not be the main objective. By that point, the players should already understand what is required.
Rangers have drawn two of their last three matches and sit four points behind Celtic
Supporters want to see the people behind the club’s branding and discover whether the players have the character to cope. This is about more than the awkward club-TV features in which team-mates debate Jaffa Cakes or KitKats while playing table tennis. Genuine authenticity and a glimpse of what truly drives them are what resonate.
To McInnes’ credit, his communication since becoming Rangers manager has generally been strong. He did not hide from the poor performances in the European defeats by Jagiellonia Bialystok and Jablonec.
He has avoided excuses and addressed the speculation surrounding his position after the Jablonec disaster. He handled that pressure effectively before guiding Rangers to safer ground with two outstanding consecutive victories over Celtic.
So far, he has been direct, honest and fully aware of the expectations placed on him.
His team, however, remains prone to switching off during matches. Centre-back Manny Fernandez is an example of that, even if the manager is right to support him publicly.
Rangers must still prove they can perform consistently enough to defeat a Celtic side that is clearly vulnerable. They need to maintain their intensity and produce 90-minute performances — or at the very least retain control from start to finish.
This is a squad with few trophies on its collective CV and several inexperienced players. They will need regular reminders of what is required as the title race develops.
If Makhanya, Sterling or anyone else chooses to deliver those reminders, it should not be viewed as a problem. It should be welcomed rather than discouraged.
