Some simple fundamental errors in crisis management have turned what could have been a routine car accidental into an international media circus.

Whether his moral compass is below par is one question, but the complete amateurishness with which his team treated the issue seems unforgivable. But it that true? I would suggest their hands were probably tied because they advise one of the most arrogant sports stars in history. He doesn’t listen and fires anyone who dares to have an opinion.

Throughout his career, Woods’ alienation of stakeholders has become legendary. Broadcasters were told to dance to his tune, promoters were required to fork out large chunks of appearance money, police escorts ring-fenced him on the links of St Andrews.

The public were asked to forked out billions of pounds to buy his good, while being told to respect his privacy… and don’t you dare ask for an autograph!.

Well now we know why.

Now we know that Tiger is a serial philanderer. And when the lurid allegations began to fly, the tabloids gorged themselves, frankly it is payback time. He has abused them on his way up and they are now taking their revenge.

By turning away the Florida State Troopers on three occasions and fobbing off the public, Woods and his handlers created an information vacuum into which wild speculation flowed.

Theories abounded that his wife had pursued his car armed with a three-iron, taking out several windows of his Cadillac Escalade as he attempted to make good his escape only to collide first with a fire hydrant before his inglorious progress was halted by a tree.

In the hours and days that followed, the disdain with which the media was treated by his spin doctors and lawyers and legal counsel, has only made the media dig deeper.

We are close to finding the number of mistresses is into double figures… a score Tiger never achieved on a golf course!

Trying to buy off one of the kiss and tell candidates, has only meant more have emerged to put their noses into the trough.

As one tacky tale followed another, Woods, acting on poor advice and misguided logic, cowered behind bland statements on his own web site, rather than confront the crisis head on.

“I am dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means,” he wrote.

“But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy.

“For me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one’s own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”

He has a point of course, but is it realistic to actually achieve complete privacy when you are the most famous man in the world? He can say it is unfair but to a certain extent when you reap the rewards of endorsements, the sacrifice is you have to behave in a reasonable way.

Woods is a richly talented golfer, with 14 majors to his name. . In 2008 he earned over US$100 million from winnings and endorsements. He is the world’s foremost individual sports brand with personal worth of US$1 billion. He is icon and role model. It is on this last point that the world feels let down..

On every main principle of crisis management, Woods and his team failed. failed. 1. Have a plan for when crisis strikes; 2. Tell your side of the story – quickly, honestly and accurately; 3. Establish and control messaging.4 Make friends with the media in the good times. 5. Allow your media advisor to give advice and listen. And tell him/her the whole truth.

One American commentator wrote: “The warning signs were there at least a week before it all started to unravel. The tabloids had linked Woods to New Yorknightclub host Rachel Uchitel, who was reported to be in the same Melbourne hotel as Woods while he was competing in the Australian Masters.

“Woods had time to ponder the impact of the two issues – first that the media sharks were circling over claims of a dalliance, and second the confrontation with a fire hydrant and a tree near his Orlando home.

“Woods ignored at least three opportunities to talk with police investigators about the incident. He delayed, losing opportunities to take control of the messaging. The delay aroused suspicion and media speculation grew.”

I don’t blame his advisors – as I said earlier, I suspect he didn’t listen. But by not being proactive quickly he has been overwhelmed by the negativity.

If you leave a gap in the market in media management someone will fill it – and the tabloids have had a field day at Woods’ expense.

Why do our football administrators treat our highly paid footballers with kid gloves? Surely it is time to accept that with the fame and riches they enjoy, comes a responsibility to behave. They are role models, like it or not and if they can’t accept it they should stand down from the game we all love.

Emmanuel Adebayor should be banned for at least four games and be fined his full salary for that time. Imagine - £600,000 being donated to a worthy charity can make an enormous difference. And finally the football authorities would get some respect.

Likewise  Gabby Agbonlahor who scored against Birmingham City yesterday and rushed over to their supporters with what is now the all-too-common finger across the lips to suggest they should shut up. He too should be suspended and fined. Those sort of actions can insight violence and encourage the mindless morons that attend our games in ever decreasing numbers, to gain further notoriety.

Football needs to be a paragon of virtue not stoop to the level of the thugs that have defiled the game for some many years. But in the end human beings will always push the boundaries and it is up to the football authorities to show leadership.

The IAAF’s ill timed and slap handed decision to announce on the eve of the World Championship 800 metres race that South African runner Caster Semenya would be asked to take a gender test to prove she was a woman created a PR disaster for themselves.

Of course the federation should do everything possible to ensure a level playing field in its sport but how could the publicfail to symapthise with a young person shoved into the spotlight on the mosts sensitive of issues and on the eve of such an important race?

Reading between the lines, it seems that the IAAF assumed that the South African athletics federation would anticipate that questions would be asked about Semenya and therefore pull her out of the World Championships to avoid the sort of media inquest that was, in reality, caused in no small part by the IAAF. They were caught cold when Semenya was not withdrawn and did not have a satisfactory PR and communications strategy in place to deal with the situation.

By making an announcement just hours before the 800 metres final, the federation created a hostile environment in the Olympiastadion as the trackside chitchat focused on the gender of one athlete. This was no longer a race, it was an international talking point, a scandal that the IAAF could have avoided. The fact that Semenya won the race is a tribute to her ability to perform under such unnecessary scrutiny and Jenny Meadows’ superb bronze for Great Britain was almost forgotten amongst the furor.

The IAAF would shuld have worked through a senstive communications strategy with their advisors still achieiving the proper fairness in the sport but without damaging its own reputation in the meantime.

I advise West Ham United about their media strategy. The football writers are turning on the club already this season because the new owners have suggested a strategy which means the club do not spend more on players than revenue generated from TV rights, commercial deals and transfers.

Since when was it wrong to run a business - or a football club - on a basis that does not create debt. Thankfully in Gianfranco Zola, West Ham have a manager who is bright, articulate and understands the reality of football in the current financial climate.

Martin Samuels musings about Wimbledon have been spot on this week. The Daily Mail writer hailed the success of the new roof at Wimbledon and how it heralded a new era for British tennis with Andy Murray coming through in an epic encounter watched by more than 12 million viewers.

Andy Murray has conducted himself brilliantly in the last fortnight or so - not over-egging his triumph at Queens, not falling into the trap of talking about winning the final this year, but I thought his criticisms of the new roof misplaced.

The issues with humidity and the lighting are the same for both players and tennis has been played under floodlights all over the world for years.

The media are quick to pulls all the ills of tennis at the feet of Roger Draper and the LTA, which quite frankly is utterly ridiculous.

Look at the school headmasters who allow their tennis courts to grow weeds, look at the municipal courts with the holes in the nets and the potholes on the courts, look at the education and sports ministers who do not take control and lead our schools encourage youngsters to take up their racquets.

The LTA are investing huge sums of money in top coaches, giving talented youngsters the best support they can get and encouraging the grass roots of the sport to modernize.

The revolution is only four years old… give them a break, give them time and support the initiatives and perhaps we can all enjoy the harvest a crop of fine young players will provide in the years to come.

So where is Carlos Tevez going? He will sign for the club that allows him to keep his pride and integrity. Sir Alex is the best manager that ever walked this Earth, but only because he has the budget to make people expendable. Carlos is a pawn in the great football chess game. Restore his pride and he will play for any team. When you are at his level playing football well is more rewarding than any pay packet, than any trophy. Decent human being do not judge their value on what they get paid - they judge it on self worth. And as a world class footballer you do not get that feeling sitting on the bench…

How can a famous and talented sportsman be admired but generally unloved by the British public? In the case of Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton, the answer is simple: he lacks an effective public relations team.

Consider the irony: after being caught breaking rules by lying to land a fellow driver in trouble, Lewis Hamilton reflects on the aftermath: “It’s a similar feeling to anyone who goes to jail but feels they should not be behind bars.” So while the man on the street is grafting to make ends meet, Lewis is crying into his designer. It’s PR suicide.

Yes, this is the same Mercedes and the same Hamilton that have been embroiled in the “liar-gate” scandal this season. Surely it’s time to stop searching for the metaphor of ‘imprisonment’ to describe a multi-million pound contract to race cars around the world? That’s certainly what any PR advisor worth their salt would be suggesting.

Let’s not forget that Lewis Hamilton is one of our most talented sportsmen and the public does want to embrace him…it’s just very difficult at the moment. But it needn’t be. His public profile and reputation management just need to be handled differently.

He is having a tough season and has been forced to watch Jenson Button thriving at Brawn GP but there’s no reason why Lewis can’t adopt a more sensible policy with the press. It is something he’s capable of; recently he was gracious and complimentary towards Button, saying: “He has had some tough, tough years and I think I can appreciate even more after this year exactly how he felt. I wish him all the best.” Even here, though, an element of prickly self-pity is evident - strange, I don’t remember Button complaining last season.  Get some advice Lewis before we fall out with a national treasure…

I spend a lot of my professional time advising our clients on reputation management. Taking the time to invest in a media profile during the good times is crucial when it comes to managing bad news whether that is falling share prices for a business leader or bad results on the pitch for a sports personality.

It remains to be seen whether the beleaguered footballer Joey Barton can recover from his recent downward spiral and whether he has enough credit in his own bank of reputation for the media to work with him. Of course it will also depend on his own conduct and whether he can control and perhaps highlight the difficulty with living with such a volatile temperament.

In order for him to recover his reputaion and his employment prospects as a premiership footballer he would be well advised to hire a PR representative with experience in reputaion management and satrt that long road to recovery…

Today one of our clients, Carlos Tevez, is accused of being petulant because he did an interview with two Sunday newspapers revealing that it was sadly time to move on from Manchester United, a club he loves and respects.

He did the interview because stories had been published suggesting he was demanding too much money, his wife and child did not like living in England, he wanted to move to Real Madrid - all of which is untrue.

Tevez is not what most people perceive a footballer to be. He is modest, when he signs autographs he engages the fan rather than signing while looking into the horizon, he does not argue with referees and his professionalism extends to all the right areas - he trains hard, he is punctual and he gives his all to the cause.

The simple fact is Manchester United have not tried to renew his contract. So why is he being petulant? The answer is he is not. He wanted to give an explanation to the fans that have supported him. He was not criticizing Manchester United or their manager.

And in my view he can move on with his head held high and his dignity in tact… and I guarantee he will become a hero at his next club.

I was speaking to our client Carlos Tevez last night - he is buzzing and so up for the game against Arsenal in the Champions League tonight. His record for scoring late goals in vitally important games can only be a good omen…