REFILE-UPDATE 1-Mecom directors resign over debt talks row

(Corrects number of non-exec directors to five from four in first bullet point)

* FD, five non-exec directors resign

* Directors cite accountability, effectiveness concerns

* Source says row started over company's debt talks

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Six Mecom (MEC.L) board members, including the finance director, resigned their posts at the newspaper publisher on Friday, citing growing concerns over the company's management.

The dispute started over negotiations with banks regarding the company's debt, a source close to the company said.

Mecom sold its German operations earlier this week for 152 million euros ($201.5 million) to reduce its debt, which stood at 587 million pounds ($875.6 million) at the end of September.

In a statement the former board members said their concerns included Mecom's "strategic direction, the effectiveness of executive management and the accountability of the Chairman and Chief Executive to the board".

The directors -- non-executives Jan Houwert, John McNeil, Robin Miller, Richard North and Robert Pieterse and Finance Director John Allwood -- said they had decided to resign after leading shareholders indicated their support for chairman and chief executive David Montgomery.

Mecom also said on Friday that Alasdair Locke would become chairman, with Montgomery to remain as chief executive, in a splitting of Montgomery's role that was previously planned.

It added Group Financial Controller Henry Davies would take over Allwood's board position until a new finance director was appointed. Shares in Mecom, which lost 98 percent of their value over 2008 and resulted in the company being demoted from the FTSE 350 to the FTSE Fledgling index, were up 2 percent at 2 pence at 1548 GMT, giving the company a market cap of 31.4 million pounds. (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)