By Bob Wylie BBC Scotland's investigations reporter

Mr O'Brien has made claims about the museum's running

The Scottish Executive has been urged to investigate claims of financial mismanagement at the Scottish Football Museum in Glasgow.

Independent MSP Denis Canavan wants the executive to intervene and scrutinise the Scottish Football Association's handling of the project.

It follows revelations that Scotland's charity watchdog is looking into how the Hampden Park museum is being run.

A museum spokesman has insisted the allegations are "totally unfounded".

Mr Canavan has called on the executive to hold an inquiry into what he said were "serious allegations" made by the former director of the museum trust, Ged O'Brien.

The MSP added: "The Scottish Executive ought to at least make some enquiries about the matter, bearing in mind the amount of public money that has been spent on the project."

Confidentiality deal

Mr O'Brien has submitted a dossier of complaints to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, alleging that the museum is not being run properly as a charity.

He has also claimed that he was offered �16,000 - in addition to �9,000 redundancy - if he agreed not to make his criticisms public.

The museum opened nearly three years ago

He said: "I wouldn't take the money because I wanted to ensure that sometime I would be able to say what was wrong with the museum, which would allow others who came after me to ensure that the wrongs were righted."

Mr Canavan said this amounted to an attempt to blackmail Mr O'Brien for his silence.

Sources at the SFA said the confidentiality deal offered was standard practice.

But the Scottish National Party's Roseanna Cunningham said she now wanted the public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland, to look into the matter.

Sources at the museum trust continued to dismiss all the criticism as a consequence of exaggerated and unfounded claims made by a disgruntled former employee.