NOTHING much fazes Davie Hay, least of all legal arguments with his beloved Celtic. Perhaps that is no great surprise when you consider that, aside from his laid-back personality, the man known in his playing days as The Quiet Assassin has been involved in the odd off-field drama, like dodging bullets in a wee break-out of war during a family holi-day in Cyprus some years ago.

He did manage to get a bit over-excited on the touchline when he was in charge of Celtic in the eighties but, if there is a team leader who does not get carried away occasionally, he has not caught my eye.

On the whole Davie takes life as it comes along, a bit like the country bus, and setbacks are dealt with in pragmatic fashion. His dismissal from Celtic and the legal dispute taking place have not prevented the former chief scout and assistant general manager from getting into serious employment again.

These days he is busy building up business for his David Hay Management and Consultancy business - ''it is going well'' - but the Celtic connection will probably never be severed.

That turned out to be the case even when he was sacked rather brutally in 1988 after a blank season which followed the winning of the league title in 1986. Hay was bitterly hurt by that treatment but his love of his old club still overcame that disillusionment and the same inability to cut the umbilical cord surfaced after his sacking this season.

In fact, he was at Dunfermline last Sunday and had an invitation to a celebration party planned for afterwards. Like a host of other get-togethers, that was cancelled after a young man on loan from Coventry scored a goal that sent Celtic and their fans to Coventry.

Now his old team go into the last day in a similar situation to Hearts in 1986 when they had the championship trophy snatched from their grasp on the last day . . . by Celtic, under David Hay.

In a sense, then, Hay understands the position Rangers are in as they go to Dundee United knowing that a win is required but still might not be enough to do the job.

In '86 Celtic needed a high-scoring success against St Mirren at Paisley,whereas Hearts, who had gone to the other ground in Dundee, Dens Park, required only a draw. Celtic got their win, 5-0, Hearts lost, in one of the most dramatic and emotional days ever experienced in Scottish football.

Hay sees differences in drawing parallels with 1998. ''People forget that we had been on a tremendous roll in the second half of that season. We had not lost a game since January and had seven straight wins as we went to the last day.

''I know some people might find it hard to believe but I honestly felt Hearts would slip and genuinely was confident that we would end up winning the league. Obviously it came at the end rather than earlier but they did slip up.''

Hay's conviction that, whatever else, his team would win at Love Street was not unreasonable considering the form they were in at the time. They had taken 22 points from their last 14 games under the old two-point system. Added Hay: ''I knew we had the calibre of player to score goals.''

The extraordinary drama of that run-in is also demonstrated by the fact that Hearts had resisted the challenge from the Parkhead team so well that they went into the final game having collected 23 points from their last 14 games.

He recalls St Mirren started the game well but once Celtic got into their stride they were unstoppable. The race to the line this time has been peppered with faltering performances by both teams and neither has seized the initiative when it was there for the taking.

Psychology played its part in that season too. Recalled Hay: ''I am sure I am right that it came out the day before that Hearts had produced T-shirts celebrating their league championship win. I can remember saying to our players: 'Well, you can make that a terrible waste of T-shirts, lads'.''

Otherwise, his words to the Celtic men would not be any different from those Walter Smith will use to his troops before they go on Tannadice. ''I tried to keep getting through to them, don't give up. In fact, it was very dramatic because our game was won out of the park and our players were looking about hoping someone would tell them what was happening at Dens.''

The good news for him and his players came near the end when Albert Kidd scored the goals that destroyed so many Tynecastle dreams.

Hay has no doubts that Rangers will adopt an all-or-nothing approach to their game with United. ''You saw the the expressions on the Rangers players faces last Saturday at quarter-to-five; they said: 'that's us done'.

''Now they have a lifeline they didn't expect and they will go for it in a big way at Tannadice. If Celtic draw or lose, Rangers know they only need to win by a goal, they don't need a big score, unlike us 12 years ago. Their attitude will be simple: go and win then see what happens.''

He reckons his old team have to take up a similar stance. ''They have to make it all or nothing, too. It is a real decider because both teams are aware they have to win.''

Hay, who was instrumental in helping to bring many of the new players who have taken Celtic to the brink of their first championship since 1988, believes they are capable of winning the game against St Johnstone at Parkhead but acknowledges the subtle change in psychology that last weekend has brought.

''The Celtic players and fans now have doubt in their minds, whereas the Rangers people had given up and now see they have a chance. The Celtic players just have to say to themselves we have to go win or bust for the 90 minutes and keep it going from the first minute. There is no other way now.''

Hay himself might get a wee touch excited. Or maybe not.