The internet phenomenon of Andy Tate and his ‘Moysesy’ rants reached a sinister turn this week with the ‘revealing’ of his place of work. The Cutter takes up this curious case of misplaced snobbery and cruelty.
If you’re a Twitterphobe or don’t ‘do’ Facebook then you may not be aware of the internet phenomenon that is Andy Tate.
To quickly explain for the uninitiated Tate is a Manchester United supporter sought out by the Youtube channel FullTimeDevils after each game under David Moyes’ miserable tenure to offer his passionate post-match opinions on the hapless Scot.
Tate’s maniacal rants soon spread like wildfire across social media with certain lines now firmly established in online folklore. “You got the job on a technicality from a legend who recommended you” and ‘I would have gone with Pep Guardiola” are now almost iconic in their stature and ubiquitous down millions of Twitter user’s timelines thanks to a multitude of vines that mock them.
Below are some of the best examples of these vines and beneath that is the video that took Tate from a typically impassioned fan to a viral sensation. They are included here not to exacerbate the Andy Tate phenomenon further or to capitalise upon it but rather because they explain everything far better than words can.
The clip above has been viewed more than a million times with countless vines, ranging from the genius to tiresomely predictable, spawning from it.
This is a brave new world we’re living in where a girl can pretend to drive her mum’s car by saying ‘broom broom’ and soon after be more recognisable than half of Hollywood. It is an entirely new type of fame that has accompanied an entirely new media and this perfectly ordinary, if opinionated, supporter is now inhabiting this strange rarefied air of being a viral celebrity. The most pertinent question that arises from this is how does the man himself feel about it all? Here we hit conjecture because to his enormous credit no interview has surfaced since his explosive rants splattered onto our twitter feeds and there’s certainly no evidence of any attempts to cash in. It appears that Andy Tate just wants to talk about the club that he loves.
This leads us however onto another query. Is it fair that a person who is enduring this much exposure and intrusion into his life – from material he has created that is undeniably entertaining millions of people – has not received a penny for it?
We’ll leave that one unexplored for now because this is not an article on new media and the ethical spider’s web it’s weaved but instead it’s chiefly about a guy who inadvertently became an internet superstar – or ‘legend’ if you’re that way inclined – and this week additionally reassured me that the Sky-infected, multi-billion pound soccerball is still a working man’s game.
More on that very shortly. Firstly I’d just like to offer my own thoughts to the Andy Tate videos.
As a Manchester City supporter I found them piss-funny. Of course I did. The humour was mostly derived from seeing a Red suffering and suffering badly and with so many ABUs around the country I can understand why they flew into the viral stratosphere. After years of being subjected to United arrogance it’s good old schadenfreude, akin to seeing Sideshow Bob step on a litany of rakes.
What I personally love most about them is the post-derby rant where Tate initially is attempting to be quite considered in his rationale but flips suddenly into frustrated mania and begins to think he is directly addressing David Moyes through the camera.
It is a level of ire and exasperation I can empathise with all-too-well as a football supporter and though admittedly I am laughing AT Andy Tate I am also in part finding amusement at the depth of emotion we all sink to because of this stupid and wonderful sport.
What baffles me somewhat about the reaction to the vids are those who derive humour from Tate’s Mancunian accent. While I accept it does lend itself to the authenticity of his annoyance as a Blue I would personally be more amused if it was delivered in a Cockney clip.
“I gotta get the train back to Laandan awl upset naa cos of you Moyes yoo caant”
As it is all I see is a local lad who evidently loves his local club. But each to his own on that one I guess.
I’m also perplexed by those who mock what he actually says. The lines, when taken at individual value, are priceless but Andy Tate is certainly no ‘fwal’. Check out the clips and you’ll find the vast majority of his thoughts are actually pretty astute and delivered brilliantly, scything through Moyes’ incompetence with cutting criticism that hits home every time. Any writer worth his salt would be proud of the comparison to Moyes as a lost kid in a shopping centre and away from the clown on the touchline his views on the players are equally harsh but well-judged.
Following United’s dismal surrender to their hated rivals Liverpool Tate had this to say of the players – “That badge, the shirt you put on, it should mean something. Blood and thunder, passion, sweat, tears. They gave nothing today. Nothing”.
Now imagine one of the coterie of cliché-quoting drips from the Sky/BBC/ITV studios saying this after a game. The net would explode with amazed cheers that someone actually gets it.
So how was it that this funny, impassioned voice from the stands made me realise this week that football – despite all the sheen and shine and Lamborghinis – remains rooted in working class values?
It’s because as with any form of bullying – and viral sensations who are subjected to mocking, abuse, and their image plastered everywhere without their permission IS a form of bullying – someone has to go too far.
On Wednesday morning an anonymous little scrote took a sneaky photograph of Andy Tate at work and posted it online. This was swiftly nicked – because that’s what they do – by The LAD Bible, a humour site and social media organisation that, even with a conservative estimate, enjoy million visitors a day.
Suddenly reality came crashing in to a silly internet gag and things took a sinister turn.
Creating vines, sharing vines, and laughing at vines of a bloke ranting about a manager outside a football stadium is one thing. Now millions were being directed to his place of work.
What made matters all the more unsavoury was the subtext to the ‘reveal’. Because – get this – Andy Tate, the ‘star’ of all those funny rants online…..works in a shop!!
Amazing hey? If the way he pronounced ‘fool’ wasn’t amusing enough let’s all now laugh at his occupation.
For me it only heightened my admiration for the guy. I’m hardly a well-paid scribe – a bill hitting the doormat routinely brings a sickly feeling in my belly – so I know well how difficult it is to afford watching my team in an era that is seemingly determined to price out the working man. Yet here’s a guy who evidently is a season ticket holder at a club known for steep pricing. Fair fucks to the man.
Alas this normal reaction to a normal bloke doing a normal job is not the norm for a cruel place such as Twitter. The supercilious jibes were as unexpected as they were pathetic, presumably from acne-riddled little wankers living off their parents who have probably been to their club’s ground once on a school trip.
My heart sank, replaced by an anger so consuming to make a pacifist seek violence. Until something rather wonderful happened. The majority consensus prevailed. The majority of us who are balanced, reasonable, and decent human beings. The majority who view the Andy Tate as a piss-take of a fellow supporter going off on one. Just like we do. We spoke out and did so in our droves.
The backlash against The LAD Bible was immense and forced them to take their photo down. It was a serious misstep by a site that attests to represent lad culture. Like a shithouse in a playground they turned on one of their own and expected their sycophants to join in.
Where they misconstrued the situation – besides the immorality of publishing an ordinary guy’s place of work for the derision of millions – was this…
There is snobbery in football but it is never fiscal. Not among fans at least.
But rather it’s a superiority based on who is the bigger supporter. Who attends the most games. Who is the most knowledgeable and passionate.
And few can match Andy Tate in any of the above.