Houllier's second signing after Frenchman Jean Michel Ferri. Kippe was tall and athletic but lacked the necessary pace to succeed in the English top-flight. He was loaned out to Stoke in the 1999/00 and 2000/01 seasons where he did well in the Second Division.

Kippe was released to Lillestrøm in 2002 where Liverpool had originally bought him from. He was appointed captain of Lillestrøm and voted "Defender of the Year" in 2007 in the Norwegian top division and in 2018, the year of his 40th birthday, he completed his seventeenth successive season with the club, during which time he had won two cups. He continued to captain the side in 2019 and retired at the end of that season, in which they were relegated after 45 years in the top flight. However after taking a coaching role with the club's academy, he re-registered as a player towards the end of the 2020 season during an injury crisis. As Lillestrøm closed in on promotion, he twice came off the bench late on in games that his side led 1-0 to shore up the defence.