Football journalist flees Zinedine Zidane's 'terrifying' estate that scared Ross Kemp

Posted Wednesday, March 23, 2022 by Dailystar.co.uk

The estate which Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane grew up on is riddled with crime - but football journalist James McNicholas entered La Castellane unaware of its troubled past

Football journalist flees Zinedine Zidane's 'terrifying' estate that scared Ross Kemp
Zinedine Zidane's childhood estate is a notorious crime hot spot

A football journalist was left fleeing for his life after he entered Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane's childhood estate which even scared Ross Kemp.

La Castellane, in Marseille, France, is notoriously riddled with crime. But James McNicholas, the man behind Arsenal site 'Gunnerblog', entered one of the most dangerous estates in the world completely unaware of its reputation.

He explained on his Instagram story: "I’m in Marseille, doing some sports journalism stuff. And one of the pieces I’m working on is about the upbringing, the childhood of one of the most famous footballers of all time, Zinedine Zidane. I’ve read a couple of books about Zizou and they say that he grew up on this estate in the north of the city called La Castellane.

"So I thought I’ll nip up there and have a look round. It’s meant to be quite a rough estate. I mean an estate is an estate. How bad can it be? It turns out, quite bad.

"I get a metro and I get a bus and I walk up this hill and I arrive in La Castellane. A few looks off people. There’s some graffiti on the wall that says this is our house [in French] which is nice, welcoming I guess. A bit like having ‘live, love, laugh’ or something like that.

Football journalist flees Zinedine Zidane's 'terrifying' estate that scared Ross Kemp
James McNicholas entered La Castellane without knowing its troubled past

"Sorry what’s that - are all the entrances to the estate blocked off with makeshift barricades made out of debris from bits of smashed up cars and motorbikes? Yeah, yeah they are actually. I just walked past that, didn’t think much of it.

"So in I stroll and then I notice, sort of perched around the estate, a number of lads, all of whom are wearing balaclavas. Somewhat concerning in itself, especially when I tell you it’s a very sunny day. It’s not really balaclava weather.

"What’s more, most of these lads, they’ve got little radios. And they’re looking at me, and they’re pointing and they’re chatting in their little radios. And I don’t think they’re saying ‘oh look, there’s gunnerblog'.

Football journalist flees Zinedine Zidane's 'terrifying' estate that scared Ross Kemp
It is one of the most dangerous estates in the world

"One of these radio guys, he calls out to me, and I give it my best ‘salut’. Don’t think he loved it. Anyway, on I stroll, you know, be confident. And then another guy, he shouts at me. They’ve all got balaclavas on, and then about four lads on scooters appear from nowhere and well, start circling me.

"Once I'm sort of surrounded, one of the balaclava lads he comes over and we have a little chat in French. The sort of thing you’d imagine, all the big questions - ‘what are you doing here?’ I tell him about Zidane, I don’t mention I'm a journalist because I don’t wish to die and so I say I'm just a football fan and I heard that Zidane lived here.

Football journalist flees Zinedine Zidane's 'terrifying' estate that scared Ross Kemp
Even tough-man Ross Kemp was scared of entering (Image: © Dave Williams/Soundd ltd / ©Freshwater Films)

"He does not offer any sort of tour whatsoever. The balaclava boy explains to me very politely but very firmly that I cannot be there and I must leave immediately. And do you know what? I do. I leave, I call my editor and say 'sorry, I didn’t actually get any pictures. No selfies with the lads'.

"And I think, I’ll just have a quick Google of La Castellane, like I said I read the books but let’s have a Google of what’s cropping up on that. A lot of that sort of stuff, executions, obviously a lot of drugs, gang stuff. Literally as I'm walking away, I find this video."

Football journalist flees Zinedine Zidane's 'terrifying' estate that scared Ross Kemp
McNicholas managed to flee unharmed

The clip in question is of tough-man Kemp visiting La Castellane himself, where he enters in a car but quickly turns around when he and his crew are circled by scooters too. McNicholas joked Kemp was a "coward" for not going in on foot like he had.

And the journalist was able to spot the exact places where he had earlier been in the video. Fortunately, the crazy incident ended with him returning safely from Zidane's former neighbourhood.