Gordon Smith, has quashed Nacho Novo’s dream of playing for Scotland. The Scottish Football Association at first confirmed that Novo, the Spaniard who has lived in Scotland for seven years, would be considered for selection if he successfully applied for a British passport. But its chief executive offered a resounding “no-go for Novo” yesterday.

The striker hit the headlines last week by claiming that he would probably accept a call to represent his adopted country. And George Burley, the Scotland manager, refused to rule out picking the 29-year-old, although he warned that care had to be taken over adopting nationalised citizens.

However, in a statement, Smith insisted that the SFA will be returning to its original Home Nations’ agreement that players will be eligible to play for Scotland only if they qualify through a grandparent.

“There has been some confusion and much debate in recent days about whether or not Nacho Novo can play for Scotland,” Smith said. “On one hand, the Fifa regulations say that George Burley can pick eligible players who hold a British passport — and on the other we have the gentlemen’s agreement with the other Home Associations that says we will pick players based on their bloodline.

“I have today sought to clarify the issue. We have had discussions with the other associations in the past couple of days and I’ve found out that everyone is adhering to our agreement and that, subsequently, we’re all going down the line that will be bloodline at the moment. At some stage in the future, one or more of us may change our opinion on that — we may get together and change our decision and go for the full Fifa regulation — but at the moment, we’re all sticking to the gentleman’s agreement.”

Asked whether Burley was happy with the U-turn, Smith said: “The situation is he has to accept it because that’s in place. I don’t think he knew about it. It was something that I wasn’t aware of actually when I came into this job and in recent days I’ve had to look at this myself.”

Smith claimed that the agreement would also prevent Fabio Capello, the England manager, from calling up the likes of Manuel Almunia, the Arsenal goalkeeper, who had expressed an interest in switching allegiance from Spain. “As far as we’re concerned at the moment he wouldn’t be entitled to do that,” Smith said. “England are part of this agreement.”

The news came in the wake of Novo reiterating his desire to play for Scotland by revealing that he is even learning the national anthem. He admits that he grew up dreaming of representing Spain but said that it would be an “honour” to don the dark blue of Scotland.

“I came from a small team in Spain and Scotland gave me the chance to be where I am now,” he said. “I was asked a simple question about playing for Scotland and I gave an honest answer. When I was young, my dream was to play for Spain but that hasn’t happened. I have been in Scotland for many years now. My girlfriend has already been teaching me the words to Flower of Scotland.”